Latest / Sober Readings / Open-Mindedness
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- Scott Hayes: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Sober Readings. It's a beautiful day here in upstate New York. Today is Tuesday, the 16th of June. Let's get started with the Serenity Prayer. God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections, June 16th. Open-mindedness. We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men. That's in Asbil sees it page seven. Open mindedness to concepts of a higher power can open doors to the spirit. Often I find the human spirit and various dogmas and faiths. I can be spiritual in the sharing of myself. The sharing of self joins me to the human race and brings me closer to God as I understand it. From twenty four hours for june sixteenth, AA thought for the day. But even faith is not the whole story. There must be service. We must give this thing away if we want to keep it. The Dead Sea has no outlet, and it is stagnant and full of salt. The Sea of Galilee is clear and clean and blue, as the Jordan River carries it out into the lives of others. To be of service to our fellow men makes our lives worth living. Does service to others give me a real purpose in life? Today's Meditation for the Day. Seek God early in the day before He gets crowded out by life's problems, difficulties, or pleasures. In that early, quiet time gain a calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Do not seek God only when the world's struggles prove too much and too many for you to hear or face alone. Seek God early. When you can have a consciousness of God's spirit in the world. People often only seek God when their difficulties are too great to be surmounted in any other way, forgetting that if they sought God's companionship before they need it, many of their difficulties would never arise. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may not let God be crowded out by the early burley of life. I pray that I may seek God early and often. And I promise you early burly is written in this book. Those are not my words. I don't even know what that means. The Daily Meditation from Touchstones for june sixteenth It's not hard. When I'm not hitting, I don't hit nobody, but when I'm hitting, I hit anybody. Willie Mays, the great baseball player. It seems like some days everything goes our way. Everything falls together in a way that makes life easier for us. Other days are just the opposite. On a bad day, we seem to be all thumbs. In our spiritual practice, we know we don't control all that goes on around us. We all are vulnerable to accidents, random misfortune, and illness. Yet, when we don't fight against the events of our lives, somehow things go better for us. We can remember that as difficult as a day may be, we are never alone because nothing can separate us from our higher power. When we accept the bad things that come, even though they are unfair. We give them less power in our lives. Then we are free to go forward and leave more room for the good things. Today I'll accept the problems I must confront and leave room for the good things. And finally, today a reading from As Bill sees it. Today we're gonna read from page two nine eight. A mighty beginning. Even the newest of newcomers finds undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him or even to love him. And then he discovers that through the divine paradox of this kind of giving, he has found his own reward, whether or not his brother has yet received anything. His own character may still be gravely defective, but he somehow knows that God has enabled him to make a mighty beginning, and he senses that he stands at the edge of new mysteries, joys, and experiences of which he had never before dreamed. And that's in the twelve and twelve pages one hundred nine to one zero. And that brings us to the end of today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you everyone so much for listening. Hey, if you'd like to be a guest reader on my show, I'd love to have you. Just send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. Or there's another way to get a hold of me. You can go to my website, soberreadings.com, and there's a short form that you can fill out, and that'll make its way to me. Also, while you're there at the website, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, I would very much appreciate it. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for listening today. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other. And remember, just for today, don't drink, go to a meeting, and keep coming back. Have a great day, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.