AA Book Club

 Thoughts for the week: July 31 Give God the gift of a thankful heart. Try to see causes of thankfulness in your everyday life. When life seems hard and troubles crowd, then look for some reasons for thankfulness. There is nearly always something to be thankful for. The offering of thanksgiving is indeed a sweet incense going up to God throughout a busy day. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about. You will acquire in time the habit of being constantly grateful to God for all His blessings. Each new day some new cause for joy and gratitude will spring to your mind and you will thank God sincerely. 24 Hours a Day August 1 Raised Consciousness The mountain means prayer - the elevated consciousness. We are told that the general public were not allowed to go up to Mount Sinai, but that does not mean that certain poeple were not good enough to go up. It means that if we want to go up the mountain - if we want to raise our consciousness, if we want to get closer to God -

 Saturday speaker link - funny A.A. speaker Adam T. (2013):

 Throwback Thursday history link - Kesting C. on the history of the Little Red Book:     Recovery Speakers.com Kesting C. on The Little Red Book and Nicollet Group's Long Range Sponsorship      ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **      

  Tuesday literature post - Bill's original 1948 Grapevine article on Tradition Seven:   Tradition Seven                                    Our growth continuing, the combined income of Alcoholics                   Anonymous members will soon reach the astounding total of a                   quarter of a billion dollars yearly. This is the direct result                   of AA membership. Sober we now have it; drunk we would not.                   By contrast, our overall AA expenses are trifling.                   For instance, the AA General Service Office now costs us $1.50                   per member a year. As a fact, the New York office asks the                   groups for this sum twice a year because not all of them                   contribute. Even so, the sum per member is exceedingly small.                   If an AA happens to live in a large metropolitan center where                   an intergroup office is absolutely essential to handle heavy                   inq

 Thoughts for the week:   July 25  Taking Material Steps When you set out to solve a problem by means of prayer you should take all the ordinary normal steps in addition. Do not simply pray and then sit down and wait for something dramatic to happen. We certainly cannot expect to go on breaking the laws of the plane on which we live, and expect prayer to compensate for this foolishness. Around the Year with Emmet Fox .(Excerpt)   July 24 Keep as close as you can to the Higher Power. Try to think, act, live as though your were always in God's presence. Keeping  close to a Power greater that yourself is the solution to most of the earth's problems. Try to practice the presence of God in the things you think and do. That is the secret of personal power. It is the thing that influences the lives of others for good. Abide in the Lord and rejoice in His love. Keep close to the Divine Spirit in the universe. Keep God close behind our thoughts. 24 Hours a Day July 28  Easy Does It What

  Saturday speaker link - Clarence S., founder of the Cleveland group:  ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  Throwback Thursday history link - Archie T, author of the Big Book story "The Man Who Mastered Fear", shares his story in 1948: ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 Tuesday literature link - Mike F. on first edition Big Books: https://www.recoveryspeakers.com/mike-f-presenting-on-first-edition-big-books-1-11-2022/ ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  Thoughts for the week:   July 17 God does not withhold His presence from you. He does not refuse to reveal more of His truth to you. He does not hold back His spirit from you. He does not withhold the strength that you need. His presence, His truth, His spirit, His strength are always immediately available to you, whenever you are fully willing to receive them. But they may be blocked off by selfishness, intellectual pride, fear, greed, and materialism. We must try to get rid of these blocks and let God's spirit come in 24 Hours a Day   July 19  The Gracious Will of God A tragic mistake that is often made is to assume that the will of God is bound to be something very dull and uninviting, if not positively unpleasant. Consciously or not some persons look upon God as a hard taskmaster, or a severe parent... The truth is that the will of God for us always means greater freedom, greater self-expression, newer and brighter experience, wider opportunity of service to others - life mor

 Saturday speaker link - Katy T., We Are Not Saints Group, Dallas, TX (2021):

  Throwback Thursday history link - Jackie B. on Orthodoxy in A.A., Past and Present: https://www.recoveryspeakers.com/jackie-b-presenting-orthodoxy-in-a-a-past-and-present-12-21-2021/ ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  Tuesday literature link - an analysis of Chapter Seven from the Big Book from our online literature study guide at AABookClub.org:   AA Book Club Big Book analysis - Chapter 7 Working With Others ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 Thoughts for the week:    July 11 With What Measure Ye Mete The plain fact is that it is the law of life that, as we think, and speak, and act toward others, so will others think, and speak, and act toward us. Everything that we do to others will sooner or later be done to us by someone, somewhere. Perhaps by someone who knows nothing of our previous action, but for every unkind word that we speak to or about another person, an unkind word will be spokenb to or about us. However, it is  a poor law that does not work both ways, and so it is equally true that fo revery good deed that you do, for every kind word that you speak, you will in the same way, at some time or other, get back an equivalent. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) July 13 Be expectant. Constantly expect better things. Believe that what God has in store for you is better than anything you ever had before. The way to grow old happily is to expect better things right up to the end of your life and even beyond that.

 Saturday speaker link -Russell S on Step 7, "A Devastating Weakness":   https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/step-7-south-dade-group-a-devastating-weekness ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  Throwback Thursday history link - Clancy I. on A.A. history:        ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  Tuesday literature post - photos of a pamphlet published by the Richmond A.A. Group from the 1950's or early 1960's Charming is the Word for Alcoholics by Fulton Oursler, editor of Liberty Magazine, which provided A.A.'s first national press exposure:     ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

   Thoughts for the week:   July 6 "Ask and ye shall recieve." Never let yourself think you cannot do something useful or that you never will be able to accomplish a useful task. The fact is that you can do practically anything in the field of human relationships, if you are willing to call on God's supply of strength. The supply may not be immediately available, because you may not be entirely ready to recieve it. But it will surely come when you are properly prepared for it. As yu grow spiritually, a feeling of being plentifully supplied by God's strength will possess you and you will be able to accomplish many useful things. 24 Hours a Day   July 5 An Inexhaustible Supply As far as God is concerned, there is no check of any kind upon the amount of divine energy that we can appropriate, or, therefore, upon the things that we can do or be. Yet, for practical purposes, you can draw from the inexhaustible Source only in accordance with the measure of your understanding

  Saturday speaker link - Sandy Beach "Letting go, letting God": ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **