Page 13 - AA NEWS JULY 2020

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Frequently Asked Questions About A.A., P-2, page 37
"A way of life cannot truly be described; it must be lived. Descriptive literature that relies upon broad, inspirational generalities is bound to leave many questions unanswered and many readers not fully satisfied that they have come upon the thing they need and seek. At the other extreme, a catalog of the mechanics and details of a program for living can portray only part of the value of such a program.
A.A. is a program for a new way of life without alcohol, a program that is working successfully for hundreds of thousands of men and women who approach it and apply it with honesty and sincerity. It is working throughout the world and for men and women in all stations and walks of life."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Living Sober, page 9
"We try never to lose sight of the unchangeable fact of our alcoholism, but we learn not to brood or feel sorry for ourselves or talk about it all the time. We accept it as a characteristic of our body - like our height or our need for glasses, or like any allergies we may have.
Then we figure out how to live comfortably - not bitterly - with that knowledge as long as we start out by simply avoiding that first drink (remember?) just for today.
A blind member of A.A. said his alcoholism was quite similar to his blindness. 'Once I accepted the loss of my sight,' he explained, 'and took the rehabilitation training available to me, I discovered I really can, with the aid of my cane or my dog, go anywhere I want to go quite safely, just as long as I don't forget or ignore the fact that I am blind. But when I do not act within the knowledge that I cannot see, it is then I get hurt, or in trouble.'
'If you want to get well,' one A.A. woman said, 'you just take your treatment and follow directions and go on living. It's easy as long as you remember the new facts about your health. Who has time to feel deprived or self-pitying when you find there are so many delights connected to living happily unafraid of your illness?'"
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Eleven, page 99
"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
"Lord make me a channel of thy peace - that where there is hatred, I may bring love - that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness - that where there is discord, I may bring harmony - that where there is error, I may bring truth - that where there is doubt, I may bring faith - that where there is despair, I may bring hope - that where there are shadows, I may bring light - that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted - to understand, than to be understood - to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Eleven, page 105
"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." "Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
Big Book, page 47
"When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you."
Reprinted with permission from A.A.W.S.
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