Father Leo’s

POWER

“The first and great commandment is ‘Don’t let them scare you.'”

— Elmer Davis

In my sobriety I still need to deal with fear. A fear of people, a fear of not being good
enough, a fear of saying the wrong thing, a fear of not looking “good enough” — fear still
haunts me in sobriety.

However, my recovery also tells me that I am a child of God. I am a beautiful and
powerful human being because God not only made me, but has shared something of His
precious divinity with me. I am good enough. In Him I can afford to risk. Love must begin
with the recognition of self.

Today I must remember that people are not “out to get me”. I need not make myself the
victim. People are much the same inside, and we all need each other to survive.

Thank You for the power to live with my fear.

One Day At A Time

SANITY
“Came to believe … That a power greater than ourselves … Could restore us to sanity.”
-Step Two

What a powerful statement! There’s a power greater than me. At first glance it seemed so frightening. As I looked at my situation, it seemed impossible … who or what could be greater than I am? To be “restored” to sanity meant I must be crazy. After all, that is what insanity means. My Higher Power happened to be my sponsor and she was determined enough to be that power, if only until I opened the door to another.

One day when my ears were open and my mouth shut, these words came from another sufferer: “God can.” I thought to myself, “What?! What does ‘God can’ mean?” Later — when my body was clean and my mind receptive — those words came to mean a great deal to me. “God can” if I let Him. God can take away my compulsion to overeat. God can remove my desire for nicotine. God can take away my desire for booze. Yes, God can.

I no longer worry about what I can’t accomplish because I know that “God can.” So now when my day begins I think of what I can do right, and do it for today. That which I cannot do right — I just let God handle that. We make a pretty good team, God and me.

One Day at a Time …
I let my Higher Power restore me to sanity.

~ Danny

Step By Step - May 28 2026

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” 

– Step Two
Today, whether a newcomer or veteran of the Program, if the term Higher Power discourages me because my faith has been ravaged by alcohol or the less than serene episodes of sobriety, let me re-read and understand the literal interpretation of Step Two. We are not asked or mandated by this Step to believe, but “come to believe” in the possibility of a Higher Power. If I shrug off the possibility of some being stronger and greater than myself, I need only look to why I came to AA in the first place: by doing that, I also reached out for the possibility that some help that I need desperately exists. By the same measure, if I cannot yet grasp the concept of a stronger power, let me believe that Step Two is telling me that coming to believe in and accept a Power greater than myself is a dynamic process, one that requires ongoing change. Just as I did not become sober after my last drink and probably needed weeks, months or longer to move from being dry to being sober, so it goes with developing an understanding of the principles of all Twelve Steps. Today, I will not give up if I do not believe in that Higher Power; instead, I will proceed with the promise of Step Two that I will one day find my Higher Power. And our common journey continues. 

Step by step. – Chris M.,

Just For Today

The Power In The Group

“Our understanding of a Higher Power is up to us…. We can call it the group, the program, or we can call it God.”

 Basic Text, p. 24

Many of us have a hard time with the idea of a Higher Power until we fully accept the depth of our own powerlessness over addiction. Once we do, most of us are at least willing to consider seeking the help of some Power greater than our disease. The first practical exposure many of us have to that kind of Power is in the NA group. Perhaps that’s where we should start in developing our own understanding of God.

One evidence of the Power in the group is the unconditional love shown when NA members help one another without expectation of reward. The group’s collective experience in recovery is itself a Power greater than our own, for the group has practical knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. And the fact that addicts keep coming to NA meetings, day after day, is a demonstration of the presence of a Higher Power, some attractive, caring force at work that helps addicts stay clean and grow.

All these things are evidence of a Power that can be found in NA groups. When we look around with an open mind, each of us will be able to identify other signs of that Power. It doesn’t matter if we call it God, a Higher Power, or anything else — just as long as we find a way to incorporate that Power into our daily lives.

Just for today: I will open my eyes and my mind to signs of a Power that exists in my NA group. I will call upon that Power to help me stay clean.

Father Leo’s May 26 2026

SPACE

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

–Neil A. Armstrong

Man is able to do such wonderful things in this world. There is no end to what man can achieve when he behaves responsibly and honestly, working together with others to discover more about himself and the universe. God has truly made man in His own image with all the power and creativity that that implies.

The danger that forever surrounds man is greed, pride and the misuse of “power”.

As a recovering alcoholic I understand this only too well. I wanted to be out in front, and ego made me arrogant and selfish. If this is true for me and other human beings, it is also true for governments, countries and alliances. Countries don’t make wars, people do; countries don’t have achievements, people do – and this universe must be seen as belonging to everyone or it will belong to no one!

Let us learn to enjoy and share Your garden and not destroy it.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day - May 15 2026

AA Thought for the Day

In AA, we find a new strength and peace from the realization that there must be a Power greater than ourselves which is running the universe and which is on our side when we live a good life. So the AA Program really never ends. You begin by overcoming drink and you go on from there to many new opportunities for happiness and usefulness.

Am I really enjoying the full benefits of AA?

Meditation for the Day

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We should not seek material things first, but seek spiritual things first and material things will come to us as we honestly work for them. Many people seek material things first and think they can then grow into knowledge of spiritual things. You cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time. The first requisites of an abundant life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things are of little real use to you.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may put much effort into acquiring spiritual things. I pray that I may not expect good things until I am right spiritually.

Hazelden Foundation

A Day At A Time - May 7 2026

Reflection For The Day

If I believe that it’s hopeless to expect any improvement in my life, I’m doubting the power of God. If I believe I have reason for despair, I’m confessing personal failure, for I do have the power to change myself; nothing can prevent it but my own unwillingness. I can learn in The Program to avail myself of the immense, inexhaustible power of God — if I’m willing to be continually aware of God’s nearness. Do I still imagine that my satisfaction with life depends on what someone else may do?

Today I Pray

May I give over my life to the will of God, not to the whims and insensitivities of others. When I counted solely on what other people did and thought and felt for my own happiness, I became nothing more than a cheap mirror reflecting others’ lives. May I remain close to God in all things. I value myself because He values me. May I have my being in his Being and be dependent only upon Him.

Today I Will Remember

Stay close to God.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - April 30 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

The A.A. program is one of faith because we find that we must
have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going
to get sober. We’re helpless before alcohol, but when we turn
our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give
us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem
licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which
we call God is the essential part of the A.A. program. Is faith
still strong in me?

Meditation For The Day

Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of
the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the
springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet,
but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the
Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God’s spirit that
can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is
full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys,
such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God’s
love.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray
that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life.

As Bill Sees It - April 23 2026

p. 114
No Personal Power, 

“At first, the remedy for my personal difficulties seemed so obvious
that I could not imagine any alcoholic turning the proposition down
were it properly presented to him. Believing so firmly that Christ can
do anything, I had the unconscious conceit to suppose that He would
do everything through me–right then and in the manner I chose.
After six long months, I had to admit that not a soul had surely laid
hold of the Master–not excepting myself.

“This brought me to the good healthy realization that there were
plenty of situations left in the world over which I had no personal
power–that if I was so ready to admit that to be the case with
alcohol, so I must make the same admission with respect to much
else. I would have to be still and know that He, not I, was God.”

Letter, 1940

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

One Day At A Time - April 23 2026

 BIRTHRIGHT 

I’ve continued to recognize the power individuals have
to change virtually anything and everything in their lives in an instant.
I’ve learned that the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us,
merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.
Anthony Robbins

I have divine origins because I am part of my Higher Power. Whether I see my Higher Power as a male, female or neither; no matter if I experience my Higher Power as a Heavenly Parent, a Divine Friend, or a Great Spirit; whether I find my Higher Power in a temple, in the mountains, or in my child’s eyes … I am connected to something greater than myself, my problems, and my fears. The who, what, where, when, and how of my Higher Power are not important. I don’t have to completely understand HP because my HP understands me.

I have been endowed with all the things I need to be successful in recovery and in life. All I have to do is step up and claim them. I have intellect, I have emotion, and I have a spirit. All of those things have a direct line to my Higher Power. What I can’t yet access is given to me as a gift when I claim my divine birthright by simply saying, “I can’t. You can. I think I’ll let You.” What greater power is there than to give our power to our Higher Power? Knowing when I can’t do it alone is a gift!

One Day at a Time . . .

I will remember I come from royalty. I will remember my divine birthright and step up to claim it. Today I will not sell my divine birthright for a mess of pottage.

~ Sandee ~

FR.LEO'S - April 17 2026

 POWER

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts, perhaps the fear of loss of power.”

~ John Steinbeck ~

I now see that much of what we perceive as power in the world is really fear. Power that seeks to attack first to feel secure is fear. Power that always demands an answer is fear. Power that arrogantly refuses to listen is fear.

Spiritual power can be vulnerable. It can live with confusion. It can stand alone. It allows others to walk away to pursue their own happiness. Spiritual power can exist in suffering and loneliness and does not expect perfection.

My recovery is teaching me to live and let others live, too. My freedom must respect the freedom of others. Respect is a two-way street.

Give me the power that can rest in imperfection.

© 2008 Leo Booth

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - April 8 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

Second, alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They admit that they’re helpless by themselves and they call on that Higher Power for help.  They surrender their lives to God, as they understand Him.  They put their drink problem in God’s hands and leave it there. They recover their faith in a Higher Power that can help them. Have I recovered my faith?

Meditation For The Day

You must make a stand for God. Believers in God are considered by some as peculiar people. You must even be willing to be deemed a fool for the sake of your faith. You must be ready to stand aside and let the fashions and customs of the world go by, when God’s purposes are thereby forwarded. Be known by the marks that distinguish a believer in God. These are honesty, purity, unselfishness, love, gratitude, and humility.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be ready to profess my belief in God before others. I pray that I may not be turned aside by the skepticism and cynicism of unbelievers. 

A DAY AT A TIME - 21 st February 2026

Reflection for the Day

Do I waste my time and energy wrestling with situations that aren’t actually worth a second thought? Like Don Quixote, the bemused hero of Spanish literature, do I imagine windmills as menacing giants, battling them until I am ready to drop from exhaustion? Today, I’ll not allow my imagination to build small troubles into big ones. I’ll try to see each situation clearly, giving it only the value and attention it deserves. Have I come to believe, as the second of the Twelve Steps suggests, that a Power greater than myself can restore me to sanity?

Today I Pray

God, keep my perspective sane. Help me to avoid aggrandizing petty problems, tying too much significance to casual conversations, making a Vesuvius out of an anthill. Keep my fears from swelling out of scale, like shadows on a wall. Restore my values, which became distorted during the days of my chemical involvement

Today I Will Remember

Sanity is perspective.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Father Leo’s - 7th October 2025

POWER

“The first and great commandment is ‘Don’t let them scare you.'”

— Elmer Davis

In my sobriety I still need to deal with fear. A fear of people, a fear of not being good
enough, a fear of saying the wrong thing, a fear of not looking “good enough” — fear still
haunts me in sobriety.

However, my recovery also tells me that I am a child of God. I am a beautiful and
powerful human being because God not only made me, but has shared something of His
precious divinity with me. I am good enough. In Him I can afford to risk. Love must begin
with the recognition of self.

Today I must remember that people are not “out to get me”. I need not make myself the
victim. People are much the same inside, and we all need each other to survive.

Thank You for the power to live with my fear.   

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY

A.A. Thought for the Day

You get the power to overcome drinking through the fellowship of other alcoholics who have found the way out. You get power by honestly sharing your past experience by a personal witness. You get power by coming to believe in a Higher Power, the Divine Principle in the universe which can help you. You get power by working with other alcoholics. In these four ways, thousands of alcoholics have found all the power they needed to overcome drinking. Am I ready and willing to accept this power and work for it?

Meditation for the Day

The power of God’s spirit is the greatest power in the universe. Our conquest of each other, the great kings and conquerors, the conquest of wealth, the leaders of the money society, all amount to very little in the end. But one who conquers oneself is greater than one who conquers a city Material things have no permanence. But God’s spirit is eternal. Everything really worthwhile in the world is the result of the power of God’s spirit.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may open myself to the power of God’s spirit. I pray that my relationships with others may be improved by this spirit.

© 1954, 1975, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation 

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TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY #essentialsofrecovery

A.A. Thought for the Day

We’re all looking for the power to overcome drinking. When we alcoholics come into A.A., our first question is: “How do I get the strength to quit?” At first it seems to us that we will never get the necessary strength. We see older members who have found the power we are looking for, but we don’t know the process by which they got it. This necessary strength comes in many ways. Have I found all the strength I need?

Meditation for the Day

You cannot have a spiritual need that God cannot supply. Your fundamental need is a spiritual need, the need for power to live the good life. The best spiritual supply is received by you when you want it to pass on to other people. You get it largely by giving it away. God gives you strength as you pass it on to another person. That strength means increased health; in-creased health means more good work, and more good work means more people helped. And so it goes on, a constant supply to meet all spiritual needs.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my every spiritual need will be supplied by God. I pray that I may use the power I receive to help others.

© 1954, 1975, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation 

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery

GUIDANCE

. . . this means a belief in a Creator who is all power, justice, and love; a God who intends for me a purpose, a meaning, and a destiny to grow, however . . . haltingly, toward His own likeness and image.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 51 ~

As I began to understand my own powerlessness and my dependence on God, as I understand Him, I began to see that there was a life which, if I could have it, I would have chosen for myself from the beginning. It is through the continuing work of the Steps and the life in the Fellowship that I’ve learned to see that there is truly a better way into which I am being guided. As I come to know more about God, I am able to trust His ways and His plans for the development of His character in me. Quickly or not so quickly, I grow toward His own image and likeness.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrecovery

STAYING ON COURSE

Power in Purpose

When riding in an airplane on automatic pilot, I marvel at the way the aircraft stays on course even while bouncing and shaking through pockets of turbulence. Even more significant is the pilot’s calm indifference to these minor movements as he checks occasionally to make sure the plane continues on the right course.

Many things that happen to us each day are no more important than the routine turbulence an aircraft encounters. But as sick, compulsive people, we sometimes view every disturbance as a terrible storm and become panicky or enraged over things that are of little consequence in the long run. “I could accept a major calamity, but a broken fingernail ruined my day,” one speaker said at an AA. meeting.

We can set our lives on “automatic pilot” by choosing continuing recovery as our major goal and letting all things fall in line with that. The turbulence of ordinary living cannot deflect us from our true course if we calmly accept it as natural, unavoidable, and nonthreatening. Even if a real storm blows up and gives us anxious moments, we can stay on the recovery course we have chosen.

Disappointments and annoyances are part of the human condition. I will be cheerful and optimistic today even if I am bounced around a bit. There is within me an automatic pilot, through which my Higher Power leads me to continued recovery and true fulfillment as a person.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation 

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DAILY ZEN #essentialsofrecovery

If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.

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AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX #essentialsofrec #Power #Recovery #Emmet #Fox

THY KINGDOM COME

Thy kingdom come (Matthew 6:10)

Man being manifestation or expression of God has a limitless destiny before him. His work is to express, in concrete definite form, the abstract ideas with which God furnishes him, and in order to do this, he must have creative power. Elsewhere, he would be merely a machine through which God worked—an automaton. But man, having the nature of his Father, remains a creator. Notice the word creator means undivided. The consciousness of man is not separated from God’s consciousness.

“Thy kingdom come” means that it is our duty to be ever occupied in helping to establish; the Kingdom of God on earth. That is to say, our work is to bring more upon this plane. That is what we are here for. The old saying, “God has a plan for every man, and he has one for you,” is quite correct.

If only you will find out the thing God intends you to do, and will do it, you will find that all doors will open to you; all obstacles in your path will melt away; you will be acclaimed a brilliant success; you will be most liberally rewarded from the monetary point of view; and you will be gloriously happy.

There is a true place in life for each one of us, upon the attainment of which we shall be completely happy, and perfectly secure. On the other hand, until we do find our true place we never shall be either happy or secure, not matter what other things we may have. Our true place is the one place where we can bring the Kingdom of God into manifestation, and truly say, “Thy kingdom cometh.”

© 1931 by Emmet Fox

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