Subject: Fwd: Today, Wednesday, February 2, 2011
From: "Paul" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Spencer Allen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 14:04:52 -0500

Please keep Alan H. in your prayers.

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: [email-masked]
> Date: February 2, 2011 12:42:02 PM EST
> To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] 
> , [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] 
> , [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] 
> , [email-masked], [email-masked]
> Subject: Fwd: Today, Wednesday, February 2, 2011
>

>
>
> Subj: Today, Wednesday, February 2, 2011
>
>
> February 2:   In AA., am I getting real pleasure and serenity and  
> peace?
> This is February, the 2nd month of the year;
> •        The 2nd Tradition:  For our group purpose there is but one  
> ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our gro 
> up conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not gov 
> ern.
> •        The 2nd Step:  Came to believe that a Power greater than ou 
> rselves could restore us to sanity.
> •        The 2nd Promise: We are going to know a new freedom and a n 
> ew happiness.
> __________________
> A.A. Thought for the Day
>
> We got a kick out of the first few drinks, before we got stupefied  
> by alcohol. For a while, the world seemed to look brighter. But how  
> about the letdown, the terrible depression that comes the morning  
> after? In A.A., we get a real kick: not a false feeling of  
> exhilaration, but a real feeling of satisfaction with ourselves,  
> self respect, and a feeling of friendliness toward the world. We got  
> a sort of pleasure from drinking. For a while we thought we were  
> happy. But it's only an illusion. The hangover the next day is the  
> opposite of pleasure. In AA., am I getting real pleasure and  
> serenity and peace?
>
> Meditation for the Day
>
> I will practice love, because lack of    love will block the way. I  
> will try to see good in all people, those I like and also those who  
> fret me and go against the grain. They are all children of God. I  
> will try to give love; otherwise, how can I dwell in God's spirit  
> whence nothing unloving can come? I will try to get along with all  
> people, because the more love I give away, the more I will have.
>
> Prayer for the Day
>
> I pray that I may do all I can to love others, in spite of their  
> many faults. I pray that as I love, so will I be loved.
>
> Source: Twenty-Four Hours a Day,    Richmond Walker, Copyright © 197 
> 5, Hazeldon Foundation, printed in the USA.   Editor’s note: This bo 
> ok was compiled by Richmond Walker (1892–1965) of the Group at Dayto 
> na Beach, Florida. I get the text from the following website:  http://www.anonymityone.com/h24/0403EN.htm 
>  Note 4 numbers after “h24/”: the first two are the day of the  
> month and the second two are the month.  Example:  To get daily read 
> ing for December 21st, you would change the URL to      http://www.anonymityone.com/h24/2112EN.htm
>
>
>
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>
> It’s All Gratuitous
>
>
> This is what binds all people and all creation together-the gratuity  
> of the gift of being.  –Matthew Fox
>
>
> My only son died five years ago; he was four and a half,” writes a c 
> ontributor to Slowing Down in a Speeded Up World.  “One of the gifts 
>  his death brought was an excuse to stop the rush.  For the first ye 
> ar, I allowed grief to wash over me whenever I needed to, and I let  
> myself be open to the healing that surrounds us in this incredible w 
> orld.  I had time for a hug and to talk with my friends; I had vast  
> amounts of time to cherish four and a half years of memories.
>         “Nowadays it isn’t unusual for me to stop in my tracks  
> when a rainbow arches over the bay outside my office window, or a ti 
> ny feather drifts down to me from the sky, or a child’s laugh at McD 
> onald’s brings tears to my eyes.
>         “I realize how lucky I am, not to have lost my son but to ha 
> ve had him for as long as I did.  I’m lucky to have known the import 
> ance of certain moments that catch your soul and may never come agai 
> n.”
>         “Gratefulness, or “great fullness” as Brother David  
> Steindl-Rast calls it, “is the full response of the human heart to t 
> he gratuitousness of all that is.”  He and Matthew Fox remind us tha 
> t truly every single thing we have has been given to us, not necessa 
> rily because we deserve it, but gratuitously, for no known reason, a 
> nd that the same is true for every living thing.  We are connected o 
> ne to another, to sky and water and tree, and snake, by virtue of be 
> ing here together as part of the wheel of life.  Whatever source we  
> believe is the giver–some concept of God or the randomness of the Bi 
> g Bang–the fact of our incarnation, the fact of the lizard’s  
> skin, the rose’s scent, the blueness of the sky, is an incredible gi 
> ft.  None of us–bee, flower, person–did anything to earn this  
> gift, nor is anything required of us in return.
>         When, in a sudden moment–gazing at a field of daffodils, per 
> haps, or moving luxuriously through warm water, or listening to the  
> painfully beautiful voice of Billie Holiday–we are stuck by the trut 
> h of this amazingly free “no strings attached” gift, gratitude  
> flows naturally from us, without effort.  At such times, we don’t ne 
> ed to work at feeling thankful; we just are.
>         In such transcendent moments, we take our place in the great  
> wheel of life, recognizing our connection to one another and to all  
> of creation.  More than that, we actually become part of everything,  
> so that we experience the truth that there is no separation between  
> us and everything else, sound, sight, and feeling.
>         At such times, gratitude opens our hearts fully and we take  
> in the love, the beauty, the joy that is ours to possess in every  
> moment, in all circumstances.  Through the gift of a grateful heart,  
> we merge with the    All and remember our rightful home.
>
> From: Attitudes of gratitude -How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day  
> of Your Life, M.J. Ryan, Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 1999, page
>
>
> As Stan B. would often quote:
>
>  “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for  
> you in Jesus Christ.”
>     
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>                                                                    1  
> Thes 5:1