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November 13 Reflection for the Day

All progress can be boiled down and measured by just two words: humility and responsibility. It’s said that our entire spiritual development can be precisely measured by our degree of adherence to those standards. Only by abandoning my self-centeredness and maintaining contact with a Higher Power can I achieve true humility. Only by regaining contact with reality can I develop responsibility.

Am I trying my honest best to live by standards of humility and responsibility?

Today I Pray
I pray that of all the good words and catch phrases and wisps of inspiration that come to me, I will remember these two above all: humility and responsibility. These may be the hardest to come by – humility because it means shooing away my pride, responsibility because I am in the habit of using my gambling addiction as a thin excuse for getting out of obligations. I pray that I may break these old patterns.

Today I Will Remember
First humility, then responsibility.

NOVEMBER 12 Reflection for the Day

There are few “absolutes” in the Gamblers Anonymous Twelve Steps of Recovery. We’re free to start at any point we can, or will. God, as we understand Him, may be defined as simply a “Power greater”; for many of us in the Program, the group itself was the first “Power greater.” And this acknowledgment is relatively easy to make if a newcomer knows that most of the members are free of compulsive gambling and he or she isn’t. This admission is the beginning of humility. Perhaps for the first time, the newcomer is at least willing to disclaim that he himself – or she herself – is God.

Is my behavior more convincing to newcomers than my words?

Today I Pray
May I define and discover my own Higher Power. As that definition becomes clearer and closer to me, may I remember not to insist that my interpretation is right. For each must find his or her own Higher Power. If a newcomer is feeling godless and alone, the power of the group may be enough for now. May I never discredit the power of the group.

Today I Will Remember
Group power can be a Higher Power.