“Letting go of my perfectionistic demands has been a lifetime job, not an overnight matter.”

Three readings. A song that says the rest. And inspiration for whatever this day is here to teach.

A lone surfer riding inside a great curling wave

Read — the readings that opened the day

A Full and Thankful Heart

Daily Reflections

We are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful and of how important gratitude is in our sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has given me and am glad I can give back what was given to me freely. I am grateful for the quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me a life blessed with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others — in our Fellowship, my family and community. For all of this, I pray I may have ‘a full and thankful heart.’

A Deep Breath of Life

Alan Cohen

Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes, and the more power you have to bring your good into visibility. Proclaim your good as if you already have it even before you see it, and you will see it. Today, help me to celebrate my blessings before I can touch them; to make the invisible visible to me, that I manifest it in love and gratitude.

Meditation for the Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily, steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid. God will help and strengthen you, if you are trying to do His will. I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime work.

Reflect — Steve L.'s own words

Doing the readings this morning, I scratched my head. Why do I still fall into self-doubt, self-pity, worry and fear? Like you taught me, I put those thoughts aside and thought about how the day unfolded.

After a beautiful morning, I headed out to meet up with my friend Barry at Ingo for the noon MAAM. We ended up with a table of 5 guys; laughter, love, and the BS were wonderful; then at the meeting, some real issues were shared dealing with life’s challenges.

Afterwards, meeting up with a buddy, we talked about our journey and the solution.

At the HOA meeting, we have a few homeowners behind in their dues and are working to get everything resolved. We presented a solution to prevent foreclosure notices; it was applauded & accepted. I left grateful to be part of the solution, not to deepen the problem.

I drove over to Gails to help make dinner and walked into the other room to get on the phone with Brian in Pinetop. Catching up about his week of adventures, progress and new beginnings, the idea sparked a thought: It’s progress, not perfection, dummy!!

Like Bill Wilson expressed in “The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety,” <aainthedesert.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/EMOTIONAL-SOBRIETY.pdf> the vision of riding the waves cropped up. Letting go of my perfectionistic demands has been a lifetime job, not an overnight matter. Like exercise, its discipline, not without sore muscles or setbacks.

It’s just one day at a time, trusting God letting go and sharing what we can.

Thanks for reminding me to look at where I’ve been brought, rather than how much further I have to go. It’s ok to ask for help, take the load off; I don’t have to carry the weight.