'Someone'

In those days I had no one to whom I might take my troubles.
Today I have.
Today I have Someone who will always hear me;
I have a warm fellowship among men who understand my problems;
I have tasks to do and am glad to do them,
to see others who are alcoholics
and to help them in any way I can to become sober men.
I took my last drink in 1937.

~ Jim S., Akron, Ohio, early member~
- Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 276-77

Coming Together in Poverty

Community is the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted, not as something we have to learn to cope with as best as we can but as a true source of new life.

Living community in whatever form - family, parish, twelve-step program, or intentional community - challenges us to come together at the place of our poverty, believing that there we can reveal our richness.

-- Henri Nouwen

Adjustin My Attiude

If I reach out lovingly to someone else today, I will not need a nudge from my Higher Power to adjust my attitude.

I always have two lists:
things I'm happy about and
things I'm not.
It's my choice which list I focus on.

--Anne Arthur

Unfortunately, a bad attitude is seductive.
Discouragement and self-pity become comfortable, and I fear that discarding them will leave me vulnerable.
It's as though I find pleasure, perverse though it may be, in feeling sorry for myself.
Sometimes I even imagine staying in that place forever.
It's then that I need the warmth of loving friends, and it's no accident that I am surrounded by them in the fellowship.
I may, at first, try to ignore those reaching toward me, but I will soon feel their presence.
I can thank God for the inspiration to adjust my attitude.

A Part Of Life

Trouble is a part of life,
and if you don't share it,
you don't give the person
who loves you a chance
to love you enough.
--Dinah Shore

My fellowship is there, a warm, friendly, and accepting family. My Higher Power loves me. I am not alone, no matter where I travel, no matter how large my problems seem at the moment. My joy is doubled and my sadness diminished through the sharing of my hearts.