Topics 6/16/25 đź’Ś
1) DAILY REFLECTION – OPEN MINDEDNESS
We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 7
2) TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY
But even faith is not the whole story. There must be service. We must give this thing away if we want to keep it. The Dead Sea has no outlet and it is stagnant and full of salt. The Sea of Galilee is clear and clean and blue, as the Jordan River carries it out to irrigate the desert. To be of service to other people makes our lives worth living. Does service to others give me a real purpose in life?
3) AS BILL SEES IT – PROGRESS RATHER THAN PERFECTION
On studying the Twelve Steps, many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints.
The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
4) KEEP IT SIMPLE
AA states that resentments is the “number one offender” among our members, that it puts more alcoholics in the graves than any other thing.
—Stools and Bottles
We can get high on anger. That’s why it’s dangerous. We get a false sense of power from being angry. Our anger turns into resentments. Resentments turn into hate. Hate eats at our spiritual core. That’s why we we’re to pray for those who have wronged us, so our hearts don’t fill with hate. And our serenity will grow as we see that anger no longer has so much power over our actions.