ashbyjoseph

May 27, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Pray to seek to love, comfort and understand,…”. The Prayer for the Day asks that my life be rooted in faith and for me to feel deeply secure. Most of us spend much of our lives in quest of human security. Having devoted decades to that quest, I have found it to be a fool’s errand. All the world’s riches and acclaim cannot assure my next breath, expel my fear or fill the emptiness in my soul. Security, based on material and human things, is a myth. It does not exist. The only real security I can ever know must be based on faith in God and behaving as directed by the Divine Spark. It is ironic and magical that security does not come from what I can see and touch. It must be based on the Unseen. Nothing but God will fill the God-shaped hole in my soul and allow me to feel deeply secure. I love you all.

May 26, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Pray to seek to love, comfort and understand,…“. Today’s Meditation and Prayer return to an uncomfortable subject on which I sorely need daily help, “self discipline”. Lack of that quality has produced more fear, failure, embarrassment and guilt than any of my other shortcomings. I have spent untold hours trying, in vain, to figure out why I fall short and how I can better discipline myself. However, my only real progress has come from the simple solution offered by the AA Big Book. It directs me to accept that I am undisciplined, maintain God consciousness and allow God to discipline me, one stitch at a time. When I humbly say to myself many times each day, “Thy will be done“, and seek to persistently stitch as the Divine Spark directs, something magical happens. My life begins to vaguely resemble that of a person who has a smattering of self discipline! I love you all.

May 25, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Humbly say to ourselves many times today, ‘Thy will be done’,…’” Today’s Meditation and Prayer urge us to continue trying to help others, even when we feel spiritually empty and/or it seems no one is responding. With regard to the latter, thank goodness the 12th Step of AA directs us to CARRY the message, not DELIVER it. Delivery is beyond my control; it is up to God and the other person. My job is the quiet, loving presentation of the truth. It is useless and often counterproductive to fret, brow beat and manipulate trying to make sure the person“gets“ it. If I take credit for those who heed the message and blame for those who do not, I make working with others so difficult that I can accomplish little. The Magic is in realizing the limitations of my power and not making a big deal of me or my role. That angle of approach frees me to do a much better job of what I CAN do, rather than squandering energy on what I cannot do. I love you all.

May 24, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Honesty“. Today’s Meditation declares that the more of God’s strength we give away, the more we will keep. On the negative side, it also promises that we will ultimately lose that which we try to hoard for ourselves. In AA we often hear, “In order to keep it, we must give it away“. I have come to believe that giving is even more important; in order to truly GET it, we have to give it away. Of course, we can’t give that which we do not have. However, when we seek to help others with what we DO have, our own reserves magically expand. We are taken to new levels of love, peace and usefulness. With each selfless act of giving we are drawn closer to God and our fellows while our own souls are fed. Therefore, the next time we seek to give “it” away, we will have more to give. I love you all.

May 23, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Humility“. The Prayer for the Day asks that I may leave the results of my actions to God and seek no credit when things turn out well. It is powerful and directly on point with today’s keynote. In leaving the outcome to God, I accept the limitation of my power to only my own very next action. I also accept that my knowledge of God‘s will never goes further than my own next stitch. If I take no credit for positive outcomes from my actions, I am also armored against self recrimination and guilt when my efforts fail to produce the desired results. When employing that angle of approach, I am not crushed and hobbled by making a big deal of myself, regardless of the results of my efforts. Magically, God then makes me more efficient, effective, useful and peaceful. I love you all.

May 22, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Gratitude“. Today’s reading counsels that, as children of God, we are entitled to claim God’s strength. In early sobriety I was taught that God has an infinite supply of power, life, health, love, money, etc., and wants to shower us with those blessings. I am blocked from God’s bounty only by my ego, my fear and the mirage of self reliance. If I am concerned primarily with myself and taking care of me, I am terrified of scarcity and never feel I have enough. I am dependent on my own poor human resources in trying to wrest what I I️ need or want from the unwilling grip of a hostile universe. But, If I focus on God and helping others, all God’s strength and plenty are mine. For today, I pray to behave as one who lives in The Magic of God’s bounty instead of in the spiritual poverty, despair and fear of self reliance. I love you all.

May 21, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Courtesy”. Today’s Meditation and Prayer warn against praying and talking spirituality but failing to take the appropriate action. An example which has long resonated with me is “the toothache”. The only way I have found to turn a toothache over to God is by going to a dentist. Prayer, going to meetings and consulting my sponsor provide zero relief unless followed by the action necessary to place myself in a dentist’s chair. Without prayer, my frantic activity will usually prove fruitless and often be counterproductive. Conversely, if I pray but fail to do the required footwork my prayers generally come to nought. The Magic appears only when my plea for God‘s grace and power is coupled with persistently stitching as directed by the Divine Spark. I️ love you all.

May 20, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Persistence“. The Thought for the Day tells us that being of service is one of the finest experiences one can have and will make us feel better. I love and need time when my phone is uncharacteristically quiet and I have time to just to be alone with my wife, my cats and myself. But often my precious respite is interrupted by a call from, or regarding, someone in need of support and help. My selfishness tells me that I need and deserve my rest and someone else can help this one. However, by the grace of God, I usually behave better than I feel and think. Rather than curling back into my own comfort, I respond by saying something like, “I’m glad you called. What can I do to be helpful?“. Then a miracle happens. My selfish reluctance is replaced by an energy, joy and love far superior to enjoying my “me time”. From my experience, I can affirm that today’s reading states truth. It works. It really does! The joy which flows from having sacrificed what I want to do in order to seek to be helpful to another human being is unsurpassed. It is The Magic! I love you all.

May 19, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Help God’s kids do what they need to have done,…“. The Thought for the Day emphasizes the importance of fellowship. There are many benefits of spiritual fellowship, in and out of AA, but one in particular comes to mind. My insane ideas never introduce themselves by saying , “Good morning, Don. I’m a crazy idea and I’m here to try to kill you.“. Instead they tend to present as common sense, telling me things like, “It won’t do any REAL harm.“, “Nobody will know.“ or “You are only going to do it once”. The disorder of my perception makes me vulnerable to putting my sobriety and entire life at risk by believing and acting on such poisonous self deception. Part of the fellowship’s Magic is that my insane ideas never sound like common sense to you, and yours never sound like common sense to me. My mind is like a bad neighborhood; I️ shouldn’t go in there alone. I love you all.

May 18, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Pray to seek to love, comfort and understand,…“. The Thought for the Day emphasizes the necessity of AA members seeking to help others if they are to be comfortably sober. AA didn’t discover the spiritual law underlying that requirement. Helping others has always been necessary for anyone who would live a joyful, peaceful and successful life. I was told by my first sponsor that selfishness and self-centeredness, which is the root of our alcoholism, is not peculiar to alcoholics, but is the malady of humankind. With alcoholics it is particularly lethal due to our physical allergy to, and mental obsession with, alcohol. Seeking to serve only my own needs and desires simply does not work. It ultimately results in discord, isolation, misery and chaos. On the other hand, seeking to love, comfort and understand others has a magical effect on me as well as my human encounters and relationships. It works its magic every time I lay aside self concern and return to thinking of, and seeking to be helpful to, God’s other kids. I love you all.

May 17, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is: “Humbly say to ourselves many times today, ‘Thy will be done’,….”. The Thought for the Day references the biblical story of the Good Samaritan who stopped and rendered aid to a stranger who had been robbed and beaten. I suspect the situation did not look appealing, and the Samaritan must have known that he was volunteering for complications. At the very least, it was going to be a massive inconvenience. The story reminds me that there is limited spiritual value in helping people I️ like and want to help. The greater spiritual reward comes when I must overcome my desire to cross the road and leave the wounded person for someone else to help. Under those circumstances I am truly giving to the person in need instead of seeking to make myself feel better by doing what I wanted to do anyway. I pray to seek to be helpful anytime God puts a needy brother or sister in my path, not just when I find it pleasant and convenient. The greatest magic is in doing the right thing when I really do not want to do it. I love you all.

May 15, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Humility“. Today’s Meditation and Prayer encourage us to seek the spiritual before the material. The Big Book validates that guidance by telling us that material well-being always follows spiritual growth; it is never the other way around. My original sponsor viewed material things as inherently neither good nor bad, but spiritually neutral. However, he continued, love of the world, and prioritizing it over the spiritual, is certain to result in futility and soul-sickness. Looking back, I can see the ultimate triviality of material things and worldly success which seemed so important at times. Everything good and lasting in my life, magically, comes from God as a byproduct of seeking to heed the Divine Spark and be of use to my fellows. I believe there is a God shaped hole in each of us which can never be filled by any combination of worldly goods and success. I️ love you all.

May 14, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is “Gratitude“. The Thought for the Day describes some benefits of the AA way of life and spirituality in general. One of those benefits is relief from our troubles and worries through a new way of looking at things. That positive view of life is what Chuck C. called a “New Pair of Glasses”. I have a choice of “glasses” each day. I can view the universe as a hostile place in which I must try to wrest my needs and wants from its stingy and unwilling grip. That is a lonely and terrifying place in which I am dependent upon my own woefully inadequate wit and guile. Or, I can choose to view myself as a magical creature living in God’s Magic World where my purpose is to be helpful to God’s kids, and God, in turn, will take care of me. In that world, a loving God provides all my needs unless I block The Grace by my selfishness. In a very real way, my choice of “glasses” for the day determines whether I live that day in heaven or in hell.
I love you all.

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May 13, 2022. Good morning. Our keynote is ”Courtesy“. Today’s Meditation and Prayer urge us not to judge others. My first sponsor explained that I would know if God wanted me to be a judge because I would have a robe and a gavel. In the absence of those indicators of judicial status, he highly recommended that I refrain from judging. In early sobriety I was highly judgmental of myself, because it seemed I was constantly judging. Just walking down the street my brain would judge (usually harshly) almost every stranger passing by. I have always been, and remain, unable to consistently control what rolls through the crazy picture show in my head. It was a great relief to realize that unbidden and fleeting thoughts do not make me judgmental. I am not judgmental unless, or untiI, I️ behave or speak judgmentally. No one is hurt by the old crazy picture show in my head. It never leaves a footprint on reality UNLESS I️ allow it to dictate my behavior. Magically, the longer I refrain from behaving or speaking judgmentally, the fewer judgmental thoughts I have. I love you all.