Today’s Inspirational Quote:

“If your parents ever measured you as a child, they had you stand against a wall, and made a little pencil mark on the wall to show your growth. They did not measure you against your brother, or the neighbor’s kids, or kids on TV. When you measure your growth, make sure to only measure your today self by your past self. If you compare your relationships, your success, or your anything against anyone else, you are not being fair to you. Everyone has a different path, a different pace, and different challenges to face along the way.”

— Doe Zantamata

Words of Wisdome…1

The happiest people do not have the best of everything.  They make the best of everything they have.

My Parents have had a sign in their house that even when I was very, very little I always liked.  It said:

I have done so much, for so long, with so little, I can do anything with nothing.

I love that sign!

If a Child…

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement he learns to be confident.
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love.
If a child lives with recognition, he learns it is good to have a goal.
If a child lives with honesty he learns what truth is.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him.
If a child lives with friendliness, he learns the world is a nice place in which to live to love and be loved.

(Anonymous)

G.O.D. Good Orderly Direction

“It is when we try to make our will conform with God‘s that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.”

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions Page 40

I recently (On 3/10/12) did my steps 4,5,6 and 7 and found out some information about myself that I was able to see for some time now, but refused to look at it. A sense of pride clouded my addictions, and like termites to a foundation, when the right storm came in I came down. I did not have the right order of God and structure in my life. That order is a task, even a chore some days, to keep on the front lines of our concerns. Complacency is our deepest and deadliest enemy next to the drug we used to favor. When we think we are ok, and no longer need the order, that is when we are most ready to fall.

As I sat in the meeting on 3/12/12 I heard that same warning cast out by another man, now trembling and very visibly shaken. He had become a strength he said, and a person who dealt with many sponsee’s, but the moment he stopped daily prayer and meditation, was the moment he was preparing himself for catastrophe. Without specifics he repeated his warning, and then said (Im paraphrasing adding much here:) that his complacency cost him 8 years on Sobriety Street, now he is trying to move of Addict Avenue once more.

The best thing I needed years ago, and that he needed recently, was G.O.D. Some Good Orderly Direction! If I keep God in my life, I keep good chances of sobriety- ALWAYS taking it one day at a time.

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