The December Daily Readings from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

December 1 – AM          Page 119, To Wives, Chapter 8

Still another difficulty is that you may become jealous of the attention he bestows on other people, especially alcoholics.  You have been starving for his companionship, yet he spends long hours helping other men and their families.  You feel he should now be yours.  The fact is that he should work with other people to maintain his own sobriety.  Sometimes he will be so interested that he becomes really neglectful.  Your house is filled with strangers.  You may not like some of them.  He gets stirred up about their troubles, but not at all about yours.  It will do little good if you point that out and urge more attention for yourself.  We find it a real mistake to dampen his enthusiasm for alcoholic work.  You should join in his efforts as much as you possibly can.  We suggest that you direct some of your thought to the wives of his  new alcoholic friends.  They need the counsel and love of a woman who has gone through what you have.

December 1 – PM          Page 25, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

The great fact is just this, and nothing less:  That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe.  The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous.  He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

*Fully explained—Appendix II. 

December 2 – AM          Page 100, Working With Others, Chapter 7

When working with a man and his family, you should take care not to participate in their quarrels.  You may spoil your chance of being helpful if you do.  But urge upon a man’s family that he has been a very sick person and should be treated accordingly.  You should warn against arousing resentment or jealousy.  You should point out that his defects of character are not going to disappear over night.  Show them that he has entered upon a period of growth.  Ask them to remember, when they are impatient, the blessed fact of his sobriety.
If you have been successful in solving your own domestic problems, tell the newcomer’s family how that was accomplished.  In this way you can set them on the right track without becoming critical of them.  The story of how you and your wife settled your difficulties is worth any amount of criticism.

December 2 – PM          Page xxx-xxxi, The Doctor’s Opinion

This immediately precipitates us into a seething caldron of debate.  Much has been written pro and con, but among physicians, the general opinion seems to be that most chronic alcoholics are doomed.
What is the solution?  Perhaps I can best answer this by relating one of my experiences.
About one year prior to this experience a man was brought in to be treated for chronic alcoholism.  He had but partially recovered from a gastric hemorrhage and seemed to be a case of pathological mental deterioration.  He had lost everything worthwhile in life and was only living, one might say, to drink.  He frankly admitted and believed that for him there was no hope.  Following the elimination of alcohol, there was found to be no permanent brain injury.  He accepted the plan outlined in this book.  One year later he called to see me, and I experienced a very strange sensation.  I knew the man by name, and partly recognized his features, but there all resemblance ended.  From a trembling, despairing, nervous wreck, had emerged a man brimming over with self-reliance and contentment.  I talked with him for some time, but was not able to bring myself to feel that I had known him before.  To me he was a stranger, and so he left me.  A long time has passed with no return to alcohol.

December 3 – AM          Page 42, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3

“Two of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous came to see me.  They grinned, which I didn’t like so much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were really licked this time.  I had to concede both propositions.  They piled on me heaps of evidence to the effect that an alcoholic mentality, such as I had exhibited in Washington, was a hopeless condition.  They cited cases out of their own experience by the dozen.  This process snuffed out the last flicker of conviction that I could do the job myself.

December 3 – PM          Page 133-134, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

One of the many doctors who had the opportunity of reading this book in manuscript form told us that the use of sweets was often helpful, of course depending upon a doctor’s advice.  He thought all alcoholics should constantly have chocolate available for its quick energy value at times of fatigue.  He added that occasionally in the night a vague craving arose which would be satisfied by candy.  Many of us have noticed a tendency to eat sweets and have found this practice beneficial.

December 4 – AM          Page 10-11, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

With ministers, and the world’s religions, I parted right there.  When they talked of a God personal to me, who was love, superhuman strength and direction, I became irritated and my mind snapped shut against such a theory.
To Christ I conceded the certainty of a great man, not too closely followed by those who claimed Him.  His moral teaching—most excellent.  For myself, I had adopted those parts which seemed convenient and not too difficult; the rest I disregarded.
The wars which had been fought, the burnings and chicanery that religious dispute had facilitated, made me sick.  I honestly doubted whether, on balance, the religions of mankind had done any good.  Judging from what I had seen in Europe and since, the power of God in human affairs was negligible, the Brotherhood of Man a grim jest.  If there was a Devil, he seemed the Boss Universal, and he certainly had me.

December 4 – PM          Page 86, Into Action, Chapter 6

On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead.  We consider our plans for the day.  Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.  Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use.  Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives. 

December 5 – AM          Page 55, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend.  Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there.  He was as much a fact as we were.  We found the Great Reality deep down within us.  In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found.  It was so with us.

December 5 – PM          Page 27-28, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member.  This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor’s telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.

Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself when he had the extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a free man.

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God.  A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living” that really works.

December 6 – AM          Page 151-152, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

Now and then a serious drinker, being dry at the moment says, “I don’t miss it at all.  Feel better.  Work better.  Having a better time.”  As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally.  We know our friend is like a boy whistling in the dark to keep up his  spirits.  He fools himself.  Inwardly he would give anything to take half a dozen drinks and get away with them.  He will presently try the old game again, for he isn’t happy about his sobriety.  He cannot picture life without alcohol.  Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it.  Then he will know loneliness such as few do.  He will be at the jumping-off place.  He will wish for the end.

December 6 – PM          Page 171-172, Doctor Bob’s Nightmare

My father was a professional man of recognized ability and both my father and mother were most active in church affairs.  Both father and mother were considerably above the average in intelligence.
Unfortunately for me, I was the only child, which perhaps engendered the selfishness which played such an important part in bringing on my alcoholism.
From childhood through high school I was more or less forced to go to church, Sunday School and evening service, Monday night Christian Endeavor and sometimes to Wednesday evening prayer meeting.  This had the effect of making me resolve that when I was free from parental domination, I would never again darken the doors of a church.  This resolution I kept steadfastly for the next forty years, except when circumstances made it seem unwise to absent myself.

December 7 – AM          Page 86-87, Into Action, Chapter 6

In thinking about our day we may face indecision.  We may not be able to determine which course to take.  Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy.  We don’t struggle.  We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.  What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind.  Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times.  We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas.  Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration.  We come to rely upon it.

December 7 – PM           Page 68-69, How It Works, Chapter 5

Now about sex.  Many of us needed an overhauling there.  But above all, we tried to be sensible on this question.  It’s so easy to get way off the track.  Here we find human opinions running to extremes—absurd extremes, perhaps.  One set of voices cry that sex is a lust of our lower nature, a base necessity of procreation.  Then we have the voices who cry for sex and more sex; who bewail the institution of marriage; who think that most of the troubles of the race are traceable to sex causes.  They think we do not have enough of it, or that it isn’t the right kind.  They see its significance everywhere.  One school would allow man no flavor for his fare and the other would have us all on a straight pepper diet.  We want to stay out of this controversy.  We do not want to be the arbiter of anyone’s sex conduct.  We all have sex problems.  We’d hardly be human if we didn’t.  What can we do about them?
We reviewed our own conduct over the years past.  Where had we been selfish, dishonest, or inconsiderate?  Whom had we hurt?  Did we unjustifiably arouse jealousy, suspicion or bitterness?  Where were we at fault, what should we have done instead?  We got this all down on paper and looked at it.

December 8 – AM          Page 568, Spiritual Experience, Appendix II

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation,”

– HERBERT SPENCER

December 8 – PM         Page 154-155, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

One dismal afternoon he paced a hotel lobby wondering how his bill was to be paid.  At one end of the room stood a glass covered directory of local churches.  Down the lobby a door opened into an attractive bar.  He could see the gay crowd inside.  In there he would find companionship and release.  Unless he took some drinks, he might not have the courage to scrape an acquaintance and would have a lonely week-end.
Of course he couldn’t drink, but why not sit hopefully at a table, a bottle of ginger ale before him?  After all, had he not been sober six months now?  Perhaps he could handle, say, three drinks—no more!  Fear gripped him.  He was on thin ice.  Again it was the old, insidious insanity—that first drink.  With a shiver, he turned away and walked down the lobby to the church directory.  Music and gay chatter still floated to him from the bar.
But what about his responsibilities—his family and the men who would die because they would not know how to get well, ah—yes, those other alcoholics?  There must be many such in this town.  He would phone a clergyman.  His sanity returned and he thanked God.  Selecting a church at random from the directory, he stepped into a booth and lifted the receiver.
His call to the clergyman led him presently to a certain resident of the town, who, though formerly able and respected, was  then nearing the nadir of alcoholic despair.  It was the usual situation:  home in jeopardy, wife ill, children distracted, bills in arrears and standing damaged.  He had a desperate desire to stop, but saw no way out, for he had earnestly tried many avenues of escape.  Painfully aware of being somehow abnormal, the man did not fully realize what it meant to be alcoholic.*

* This refers to Bill’s first visit with Dr. Bob.  These men later became co-founders of A.A. Bill’s story opens the text of this book; Dr. Bob’s heads the Story Section.

December 9 – AM         Page 119-120, To Wives, Chapter 8

It is probably true that you and your husband have been living too much alone, for drinking many times isolates the wife of an alcoholic.  Therefore, you probably need fresh interests and a great cause to live for as much as your husband.  If you cooperate, rather than complain, you will find that his excess enthusiasm will tone down.  Both of you will awaken to a new sense of responsibility for others.  You, as well as your husband, ought to think of what you can put into life instead of how much you can take out.  Inevitably your lives will be fuller for doing so.  You will lose the old life to find one much better.

December 9 – PM            Page 100-101, Working With Others, Chapter 7

Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do.  People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn’t think or be reminded about alcohol at all.  Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so.

We meet these conditions everyday.  An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status.  His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything!  Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.

December 10 – AM          Page 42-43, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3

“Then they outlined the spiritual answer and program of action which a hundred of them had followed successfully.  Though I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow.  But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic.  It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window.  That was not easy.  But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be.
“Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual principles would solve all my problems.  I have since been brought into a way of living infinitely more satisfying and, I hope, more useful than the life I lived before.  My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now.  I would not go back to it even if I could.”

December 10 – PM          Page 16, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

An alcoholic in his cups is an unlovely creature.  Our struggles with them are variously strenuous, comic, and tragic.  One poor chap committed suicide in my home.  He could not, or would not, see our way of life.
There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all.  I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity.  But just underneath there is deadly earnestness.  Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish.
Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia.  We have it with us right here and now.  Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.

Bill W., co-founder of A.A.,
died January 24, 1971.

December 11 – AM          Page 28, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book “Varieties of Religious Experience,” indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God.  We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired.  If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.  Those having religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies.  There is no friction among us over such matters.

December 11 – PM          Page 134, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

A word about sex relations.  Alcohol is so sexually stimulating to some men that they have over-indulged.  Couples are occasionally dismayed to find that when drinking is stopped the man tends to be impotent.  Unless the reason is understood, there may be an emotional upset.  Some of us had this experience, only to enjoy, in a few months, a finer intimacy than ever.  There should be no hesitancy in consulting a doctor or psychologist if the condition persists.  We do not know of many cases where this difficulty lasted long.

December 12 – AM          Page 101-102, Working With Others, Chapter 7

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure.  If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever.  We have tried these methods.  These attempts to do the impossible have always failed.
So our rule is not to avoid a place where there is drinking, if we have a legitimate reason for being there.  That includes bars, nightclubs, dances, receptions, weddings, even plain ordinary whoopee parties.  To a person who has had experience with an alcoholic, this may seem like tempting Providence, but it isn’t.
You will note that we made an important qualification.  Therefore, ask yourself on each occasion, “Have I any good social, business, or personal reason for going to this place? Or am I expecting to steal a little vicarious pleasure from the atmosphere of such places?” If you answer these questions satisfactorily, you need have no apprehension.  Go or stay away, whichever seems best.  But be sure you are on solid spiritual ground before you start and that your motive in going is thoroughly good.  Do not think of what you will get out of the occasion.  Think of what you can bring to it.  But if you are shaky, you had better work with another alcoholic instead!

December 12 – PM          Page 55, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

We can only clear the ground a bit.  If our testimony helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to search diligently within yourself, then, if you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway.  With this attitude you cannot fail.  The consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you.

December 13 – AM          Page 14, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

For a moment I was alarmed, and called my friend, the doctor, to ask if I were still sane.  He listened in wonder as I talked.
Finally he shook his head saying, “Something has happened to you I don’t understand.  But you had better hang on to it.  Anything is better than the way you were.”  The good doctor now sees many men who have such experiences.  He knows that they are real.

December 13 – PM          Page 87, Into Action, Chapter 6

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems.  We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only.  We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped.  We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.  Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work.  You can easily see why.

December 14 – AM          Page xiii-xiv, Foreword to First Edition (1939)

We are not an organization in the conventional sense of the word.  There are no fees or dues whatsoever.  The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking.  We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone.  We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted.
We shall be interested to hear from those who are getting results from this book, particularly from those who have commenced work with other alcoholics.  We should like to be helpful to such cases.
Inquiry by scientific, medical, and religious societies will be welcomed.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS.

December 14 – PM          Page 69, How It Works, Chapter 5

We reviewed our own conduct over the years past.  Where had we been selfish, dishonest, or inconsiderate?  Whom had we hurt?  Did we unjustifiably arouse jealousy, suspicion or bitterness?  Where were we at fault, what should we have done instead?  We got this all down on paper and looked at it.
In this way  we tried to shape a sane and sound ideal for our future sex life.  We subjected each relation to this test—was it selfish or not?  We asked God to mold our ideals and help us live up to them.  We remembered always that our sex powers were God-given and therefore good, neither to be used lightly or selfishly nor to be despised and loathed.

December 15 – AM          Page 181, Doctor Bob’s Nightmare

Unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving for liquor much during the first two and one-half years of abstinence.  It was almost always with me.  But at no time have I been anywhere near yielding.  I used to get terribly upset when I saw my friends drink and knew I could not, but I schooled myself to believe that though I once had the same privilege, I had abused it so frightfully that it was withdrawn.  So it doesn’t behoove me to squawk about it for, after all, nobody ever had to throw me down and pour liquor down my throat.

December 15 – PM          Page 163-164, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

So our fellow worker will soon have friends galore.  Some of them may sink and perhaps never get up, but if our experience is a criterion, more than half of those approached will become fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.  When a few men in this city have found themselves, and have discovered the joy of helping others to face life again, there will be no stopping until everyone in that town has had his opportunity to recover—if he can and will.
Still you may say:  “But I will not have the benefit of contact with you who write this book.”  We cannot be sure.  God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always upon Him.  He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave.*

*Alcoholics Anonymous will be glad to hear from you.  Address P.O. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, NY10163.

December 16 – AM          Page xxii, Foreword to Third Edition (1976)

The basic principles of the A.A. program, it appears, hold good for individuals with many different lifestyles, just as the program has brought recovery to those of many different nationalities.  The Twelve Steps that summarize the program may be called los Doce Pasos in one country, les Douze Etapes in another, but they trace exactly the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal.  Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

December 16 – PM           Page 120, To Wives, Chapter 8

Perhaps your husband will make a fair start on the new basis, but just as things are going beautifully he dismays you by coming home drunk.  If you are satisfied he really wants to get over drinking, you need not be alarmed.  Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases.  Your husband will see at once that he must redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive.  You need not remind him of his spiritual deficiency—he will know of it.  Cheer him up and ask him how you can be still more helpful.
The slightest sign of fear or intolerance may lessen your husband’s chance of recovery.  In a weak moment he may take your dislike of his high-stepping friends as one of those insanely trivial excuses to drink.
We never, never try to arrange a man’s life so as to shield him from temptation.  The slightest disposition on your part to guide his appointments or his affairs so he will not be tempted will be noticed.  Make him feel absolutely free to come and go as he likes.  This is important.  If he gets drunk, don’t blame yourself.  God has either removed your husband’s liquor problem or He has not.  If not, it had better be found out right away.  Then you and your husband can get right down to fundamentals.  If a repetition is to be prevented, place the problem, along with everything else, in God’s hands.

December 17 – AM          Page 28-29, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals.  This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for himself in the light of past associations, or his present choice.  Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.
In the following chapter, there appears an explanation of alcoholism, as we understand it, then a chapter addressed to the agnostic.  Many who once were in this class are now among our members.  Surprisingly enough, we find such convictions no great obstacle to a spiritual experience.

December 17 – PM          Page 134, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children.  Their young minds were impressionable while he was drinking.  Without saying so, they may cordially hate him for what he has done to them and to their mother.  The children are sometimes dominated by a pathetic hardness and cynicism.  They cannot seem to forgive and forget.  This may hang on for months, long after their mother has accepted dad’s new way of living and thinking.
In time they will see that he is a new man and in their own way they will let him know it.  When this happens, they can be invited to join in morning meditation and then they can take part in the daily discussion without rancor or bias.  From that point on, progress will be rapid.  Marvelous results often follow such a reunion.

December 18 – AM          Page 164, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

Our book is meant to be suggestive only.  We realize we know only a little.  God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.  Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.  The answers will come, if your own house is in order.  But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got.  See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others.  This is the Great Fact for us.

December 18 – PM          Page 568, Spiritual Experience, Appendix II

Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience.  Our more religious members call it “God-consciousness.”
Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts.  He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program.  Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery.  But these are indispensable.

December 19 – AM          Page 14-15, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me.  Perhaps I could help some of them.  They in turn might work with others.
My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs.  Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me.  Faith without works was dead, he said.  And how appallingly true for the alcoholic!  For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead.  If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die.  Then faith would be dead indeed.  With us it is just like that.

December 19 – PM          Page 43, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3

Fred’s story speaks for itself.  We hope it strikes home to thousands like him.  He had felt only the first nip of the wringer.  Most alcoholics have to be pretty badly mangled before they really commence to solve their problems.

December 20 – AM          Page 102, Working With Others, Chapter 7

Why sit with a long face in places where there is drinking, sighing about the good old days.  If it is a happy occasion, try to increase the pleasure of those there; if a business occasion, go and attend to your business enthusiastically.  If you are with a person who wants to eat in a bar, by all means go along.  Let your friends know they are not to change their habits on your account.  At a proper time and place explain to all your friends why alcohol disagrees with you.  If you do this thoroughly, few people will ask you to drink. While you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little.  Now you are getting back into the social life of this world.  Don’t start to withdraw again just because your friends drink liquor.
Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful.  You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand.  Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.

December 20 – PM          Page 87, Into Action, Chapter 6

If circumstances warrant, we ask our wives or friends to join us in morning meditation.  If we belong to a religious denomination which requires a definite morning devotion, we attend to that also.  If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing.  There are many helpful books also.  Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi.  Be quick to see where religious people are right.  Make use of what they offer.

December 21 – AM          Page 69-70, How It Works, Chapter 5

Whatever our ideal turns out to be, we must be willing to grow toward it.  We must be willing to make amends where we have done harm, provided that we do not bring about still more harm in so doing.  In other words, we treat sex as we would any other problem.  In meditation, we ask God what we should do about each specific matter.  The right answer will come, if we want it.
God alone can judge our sex situation.  Counsel with persons is often desirable, but we let God be the final judge.  We realize that some people are as fanatical about sex as others are loose.  We avoid hysterical thinking or advice.

December 21 – PM          Page 55-56, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

In this book you will read the experience of a man who thought he was an atheist. His story is so interesting that some of it should be told now.  His change of heart was dramatic, convincing, and moving.
Our friend was a minister’s son.  He attended church school, where he became rebellious at what he thought an overdose of religious education.  For years thereafter he was dogged by trouble and frustration.  Business failure, insanity, fatal illness, suicide—these calamities in his immediate family embittered and depressed him.  Post-war disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical collapse, brought him to the point of self-destruction.
One night, when confined in a hospital, he was approached by an alcoholic who had known a spiritual experience.  Our friend’s gorge rose as he bitterly cried out:  “If there is a God, He certainly hasn’t done anything for me!”  But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question:  “Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?” While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell.  Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came.  It crowded out all else:
“Who are you to say there is no God?”

December 22 – AM          Page 29, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered.  These are followed by forty-three personal experiences.
Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God.  These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.
We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste.  Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, “Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing.”

December 22 – PM          Page xx-xxi, Foreword to Second Edition (1955)

At present, our membership is pyramiding at the rate of about twenty per cent a year.  So far, upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we have made only a scratch.  In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem in all its ramifications.  Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly.  Yet it is our great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom.

December 23 – AM          Page 135, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

Whether the family goes on a spiritual basis or not, the alcoholic member has to if he would recover.  The others must be convinced of his new status beyond the shadow of a doubt.  Seeing is believing to most families who have lived with a drinker.
Here is a case in point:  One of our friends is a heavy smoker and coffee drinker.  There was no doubt he over-indulged.  Seeing this, and meaning to be helpful, his wife commenced to admonish him about it.  He admitted he was  overdoing these things, but frankly said that he was not ready to stop.  His wife is one of those persons who really feels there is something rather sinful about these commodities, so she nagged, and her intolerance finally threw him into a fit of anger.  He got drunk.
Of course our friend was wrong—dead wrong.  He had to painfully admit that and mend his spiritual fences.  Though he is now a most effective member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he still smokes and drinks coffee, but neither his wife nor anyone else stands in judgment.  She sees she was wrong to make a burning issue out of such a matter when his more serious ailments were being rapidly cured.
We have three little mottoes which are apropos.
Here they are:
First Things First
Live and Let Live
Easy Does It.

December 23 – PM          Page 181, Doctor Bob’s Nightmare, Part I

If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you.  If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair.  But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you.  It never fails, if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink.
Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!

December 24 – AM          Page 81, Into Action, Chapter 6

Whatever the situation, we usually have to do something about it.  If we are sure our wife does not know, should we tell her?  Not always, we think.  If she knows in a general way that we have been wild, should we tell her in detail?  Undoubtedly we should admit our fault.  She may insist on knowing all the particulars.  She will want to know who the woman is and where she is.  We feel we ought to say to her that we have no right to involve another person.  We are sorry for what we have done and, God willing, it shall not be repeated.  More than that we cannot do; we have no right to go further.  Though there may be justifiable exceptions, and though we wish to lay down no rule of any sort, we have often found this the best course to take.

December 24 – PM          Page 164, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

Abandon yourself to God as you understand God.  Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows.  Clear away the wreckage of your past.  Give freely of what you find and join us.  We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.
May God bless you and keep you—until then.

December 25 – AM          Page 121, To Wives, Chapter 8

We realize that we have been giving you much direction and advice.  We may have seemed to lecture.  If that is so we are sorry, for we ourselves don’t always care for people who lecture us.  But what we have related is based upon experience, some of it painful.  We had to learn these things the hard way.  That is why we are anxious that you understand, and that you avoid these unnecessary difficulties.*
So to you out there who may soon be with us—we say “Good luck and God bless you!”

*The fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups was formed about thirteen years after this chapter was written.  Though it is entirely separate from Alcoholics Anonymous, it uses the general principles of the A.A. program as a guide for husbands, wives, relatives, friends, and others close to alcoholics.  The foregoing pages (though addressed only to wives) indicate the problems such people may face.  Alateen, for teen-aged children of alcoholics, is a part of Al-Anon.

December 25 – PM          Page 15, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

My wife and I abandoned ourselves with enthusiasm to the idea of helping other alcoholics to a solution of their problems.  It was fortunate, for my old business associates remained skeptical for a year and a half, during which I found little work.  I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment.  This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day.  Many times I have gone to my old hospital in despair.  On talking to a man there, I  would be amazingly lifted up and set on my feet.  It is a design for living that works in rough going.

December 26 – AM          Page 56-57, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

“Who are you to say there is no God?”
This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees.  In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God.  It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood.  The barriers he had built through the years were swept away.  He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love.  He had stepped from bridge to shore.  For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.
Thus was our friend’s cornerstone fixed in place.  No later vicissitude has shaken it. His alcoholic problem was taken away.  That very night, years ago, it disappeared.  Save for a few brief moments of temptation the thought of drink has never returned; and at such times a great revulsion has risen up in him.  Seemingly he could not drink even if he would. God had restored his sanity.
What is this but a miracle of healing?  Yet its elements are simple.  Circumstances made him willing to believe.  He humbly offered himself to his Maker—then he knew.
Even so has God restored us all to our right minds.  To this man, the revelation was sudden.  Some of us grow into it more slowly.  But He has come to all who have honestly sought Him.
When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us!

December 26 – PM          Page 102-103, Working With Others, Chapter 7

Many of us keep liquor in our homes.  We often need it to carry green recruits through a severe hangover.  Some of us still serve it to our friends provided they are not alcoholics.  But some of us think we should not serve liquor to anyone.  We never argue this question.  We feel that each family, in the light of their own circumstances, ought to decide for themselves.

December 27 – AM          Page 64-65, How It Works, Chapter 5

Resentment is the “number one” offender.  It destroys more alcoholics than anything else.  From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.  When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.  In dealing with resentments, we set them on paper. We listed people, institutions or principles with whom we were angry.  We asked ourselves why we were angry.  In most cases it was found that our self-esteem, our pocketbooks, our ambitions, our personal relationships (including sex) were hurt or threatened.  So we were sore.  We were “burned up.”

December 27 – PM          Page xxxi-xxxii, The Doctor’s Opinion

When I need a mental uplift, I often think of another case brought in by a physician prominent in New York.  The patient had made his own diagnosis, and deciding his situation hopeless, had hidden in a deserted barn determined to die.  He was rescued by a searching party, and, in desperate condition, brought to me.  Following his physical rehabilitation, he had a talk with me in which he frankly stated he thought the treatment a waste of effort, unless I could assure him, which no one ever had, that in the future he would have the “will power” to resist the impulse to drink.
His alcoholic problem was so complex, and his depression so great, that we felt his only hope would be through what we then called “moral psychology,” and we doubted if even that would have any effect.
However, he did become “sold” on the ideas contained in this book.  He has not had a drink for a great many years.  I see him now and then and he is as fine a specimen of manhood as one could wish to meet.
I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.
William D. Silkworth, M.D.

December 28 – AM          Page 43, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3

Many doctors and psychiatrists agree with our conclusions.  One of these men, staff member of a world-renowned hospital, recently made this statement to some of us: “What you say about the general hopelessness of the average alcoholic’s plight is, in my opinion, correct.  As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help.  Had you offered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it.  People like you are too heartbreaking.  Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours.  For most cases, there is virtually no other solution.”

December 28 – PM          Page 123, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

Suppose we tell you some of the obstacles a family will meet; suppose we suggest how they may be avoided—even converted to good use for others.  The family of an alcoholic longs for the return of happiness and security.  They remember when father was romantic, thoughtful and successful.  Today’s life is measured against that of other years and, when it falls short, the family may be unhappy.
Family confidence in dad is rising high.  The good old days will soon be back, they think.  Sometimes they demand that dad bring them back instantly!  God, they believe, almost owes this recompense on a long overdue account.  But the head of the house has spent years in pulling down the structures of business, romance, friendship, health—these things are now ruined or damaged.  It will take time to clear away the wreck.  Though old buildings will eventually be replaced by finer ones, the new structures will take years to complete.
Father knows he is to blame; it may take him many seasons of hard work to be restored financially, but he shouldn’t be reproached.  Perhaps he will never have much money again.  But the wise family will admire him for what he is trying to be, rather than for what he is trying to get.

December 29 – AM         Page xxvi, The Doctor’s Opinion

The physician who, at our request, gave us this letter, has been kind enough to enlarge upon his views in another statement which follows.  In this statement he confirms what we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe—that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind.  It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in full flight from reality, or were outright mental defectives.  These things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent with some of us.  But we are sure that our bodies were sickened as well.  In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete.
The doctor’s theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interest us.  As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little.  But as ex-problem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense.  It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account.

December 29 – PM         Page 17, There Is A Solution, Chapter 2

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution.  We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.  This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.

December 30 – AM          Page 76-77, Into Action, Chapter 6

Probably there are still some misgivings.  As we look over the list of business acquaintances and friends we have hurt, we may feel diffident about going to some of them on a spiritual basis.  Let us be reassured.  To some people we need not, and probably should not emphasize the spiritual feature on our first approach.  We might prejudice them.  At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order.  But this is not an end in itself.  Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.  It is seldom wise to approach an individual, who still smarts from our injustice to him, and announce that we have gone religious.  In the prize ring, this would be called leading with the chin.  Why lay ourselves open to being branded fanatics or religious bores?  We may kill a future opportunity to carry a beneficial message.  But our man is sure to be impressed with a sincere desire to set right the wrong.  He is going to be more interested in a demonstration of good will than in our talk of spiritual discoveries.

December 30 – PM          Page 84, Into Action, Chapter 6

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along.  We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past.  We have entered the world of the Spirit.  Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.  This is not an overnight matter.  It should continue for our lifetime.  Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear.  When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them.  We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone.  Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help.  Love and tolerance of others is our code.

December 31 – AM          Page 152-153, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

“How is that to come about?” you ask.  “Where am I to find these people?”
You are going to meet these new friends in your own community.  Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship.  If you live in a large place, there are hundreds.  High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Among them you will make lifelong friends.  You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey.  Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life.  You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

December 31 – PM          Page 104-105, To Wives, Chapter 8

We have traveled a rocky road, there is no mistake about that.  We have had long rendezvous with hurt pride, frustration, self-pity, misunderstanding and fear.  These are not pleasant companions.  We have been driven to maudlin sympathy, to bitter resentment.  Some of us veered from extreme to extreme, ever hoping that one day our loved ones would be themselves once more.

Reprinted from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.