As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

The playwright and Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw said, "The person I miss most is the one I could have been."

The results of the AA 12-step program of recovery make it more likely I'll become the person I should have been.

It is on being the caterpillar that you become the butterfly.

For those who believe, no proof is necessary.
For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

To be at peace in any endeavour, we must release our need to control the outcome.

Remain calm. Be kind.

Alcoholism is the only illness in the human species that tears families apart.  Most other life-threatening diseases bring the family together.

P 25:2 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.

P 164:2 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.

This is the miracle of A.A.; you can take something as complicated as a human life misused, and with nine simple Steps put it all back together the way it was meant to be. The Big Book discusses a design for living that works!

If those who lead you say to you, "See, the Kingdom is in the sky," then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you.

Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.

When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

This is Bill Wilson's Christmas greeting in 1944, sent out soon after his 10th anniversary of sobriety.

Enjoy.

Greetings On Our 10th Christmas - 1944

Yes, it's in the air! The spirit of Christmas once more warms this poor distraught world. Over the whole globe millions are looking forward to that one day when strife can be forgotten, when it will be remembered that all human beings -- even the least -- are loved by God, when men will hope for the coming of the Prince of Peace as they never hoped before.

But there is another world which is not poor. Neither is it distraught. It is the world of Alcoholics Anonymous, where thousands dwell happily and secure. Secure because each of us, in his own way, knows a greater power who is love, who is just, and who can be trusted.

Nor can men and women of AA ever forget that only through suffering did they find enough humility to enter the portals of that New World. How privileged we are to understand so well the divine paradox that strength rises from weakness, that humiliation goes before resurrection; that pain is not only the price but the very touchstone of spiritual rebirth.

Knowing it's full worth and purpose, we can no longer fear adversity, we have found prosperity where there was poverty, peace and joy have sprung out of the very midst of chaos. Great indeed, our blessings!
And so, --

Merry Christmas to you all -- from the Trustees, from
Bobbie and from Lois and me.
Bill Wilson

Compassion for life everywhere is not just a matter of being nice, sympathetic, and generous.

Compassion is what emerges from the ashes of Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, when, just as every being is God's business, every being becomes our business as well.

"We experience our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest." Einstein once said. "It's a kind of optical delusion of consciousness."

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.
Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.