Tuesday, December 31, 2019

I Resolve



6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings…
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Look at prior New Year’s Day posts
to find often the statement, “I don’t make
New Year’s Resolutions.”
Why would I buck tradition
dating back to Julius Caesar?
I used to make them…to loose weight,
to stop stupid computer games,
to clean the house and keep it organized.
But to work on anything but today,
on the current issue, does no good.
So I’ve compromised. One day at a time
I’ll work Steps Six and Seven,
realizing as I do a Tenth Step
which of my character defects
are ready to surrender.
Have a blessed 2020, 0ne day at a time!
I certainly expect to!

Image   Copyright : alexlmx 









Copyright : alexlmx 

Serenity

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Amen. ~ The Serenity Prayer
God. The Power greater than us
we came to believe could restore us to sanity,
the One about Whom we made a decision
to turn our will and our lives over
to the care of as we understood Him.
Grant. to give the possession or title of
by a deed…
 to consent to carry out for a person.
Me. My humble self, the lowliest person
in the world… or the center of all,
the fulcrum on which the world pivots.
The. A specific word, not those or them.
Serenity. The state of being calm,
peaceful,
and untroubled.
To Accept. Consent to receive.
Agree to possess. Welcome.
The Things. A specific with a vague word.
Whatever. Anything.
I. Not about you, not giving directives,
looking at just me.
Cannot. Impossibility to be accepted
rather than contested.
Change. Make or become
a different substance entirely; transform.
Courage. The ability to do something
that frightens one. Get ready!
to Change. Swap. Exchange. Interchange.
Substitute. Switch. Commute. Convert.
Replace. Rotate. Transpose.
I can. Be able to.
Be able to through acquired knowledge or skill.
Have the opportunity or possibility to
and. Don’t stop, Keep going.
Wisdom. The quality of having experience,
knowledge, and good judgment;
the quality of being wise. Man, I want this!
To know. To be aware of
through observation,
inquiry, or information.
The difference. A point or way
in which people or things are not the same.
Amen. A word uttered
at the end of a prayer
or hymn,
meaning
“so be it.”
From Greek amēn,
from Hebrew ‘āmēn
truth, certainty,
used adverbially
as expression of agreement.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Amen.


Monday, December 30, 2019

What You Deserve

You’ll be amazed at what you attract when you start believing in what you deserve. ~ TinyBuddha.com
What do you think you deserve?
For many of us the answer is a snippet
of the actual answer. We’ve spent so many years
demeaning  ourselves, debasing our value,
we cannot fantom our actual worth.
We are children of God, people of value!
Why do people fail to value people?
Even more, why do we fail to value ourselves?
Is there wisdom in the suggestion,
“Give yourself permission to fail,
set yourself up for success”?
Think about it.
You’ll be amazed at what you attract
when you start believing
in what you deserve!

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Die to the Past

Die to the past every moment. You don’t need it. Only refer to it when it is absolutely relevant to the present. Feel the power of this moment and the fullness of Being. Feel your presence. ~ Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (p. 84). New World Library. Kindle Edition.
One day at a time,
one moment at a time,
we let the past go.
We live today,
telling our fellows of our past
to make a point to tell
of the mess we made of our lives,
what happened, and what it’s like now.
We remember
and we share our transformation
but the past is dead. Let’s remember
as an exemplar, but live now
and make what is to come
even better than now,
certainly better than the past
as we feel the power
of this moment and the fullness of Being.
Feel your presence!

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Talk to God, Names Don’t Matter

He is Father. Even more, God is Mother, who does not want to harm us. ~ Pope John Paul I
A list of sixteen names for God include
​El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty) Who is God to you?
El Elyon (The Most High God),
Adonai (Lord, Master)
Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)
Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)
Jehovah Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)
Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)
Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)
Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)
Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)
El Olam (The Everlasting God)
Elohim (God)
Qanna (Jealous)
Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)
Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace) and
Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts).
Do you have others?
I decided once to call God Demiurge,
a being responsible for the creation of the universe.
Even Pope John Paul I
approved of God the Mother.
I’ve told you of the young man
in a Recovery retreat who prayed to Howard,
as in Howard be Your Name.
Call God “Hey  You” if that appeals,
just welcome him in and pray
for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.

Friday, December 27, 2019

Just Me

I’m me, God. l never rise above being myself. ~ Joanne
A game of make-believe has lasted many years…
Since sitting under the dining-room table
before  the evaporative cooler, a towel on shoulders
to imagine the blizzard… Playtime where stories
created by me, staring me, facilitated my pride.
Later I pretended to be important, to fit in,
to be a star instead of feeling like a failure.
Finally after many years I found Recovery,
met others like me who, amazingly LIKED ME
and I learned Idid not need to pretend.
I was worthy, to feel the truth, finally comfortable
that, “I’m me, God. l never rise above being myself.
And finally I find no need to!”


Thursday, December 26, 2019

Do Not Hurry

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom. ~ St. Francis de Sales
Which of your character defects
are addressed in these forty-four words?
For me they start with worrying
rather than starting, doing.
They continue with anxiety
rather than tranquility,
with angst rather than trust
doubt rather than faith
and self-reliance rather than surrender
to a Power Who can
when agitation and panic are all I can manage.
St. Francis de Sales 

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

A GI'S Gift

Olive drab is basic pain,
endless hikes in drizzling rain.
Blue is Christmas TDY,
raucous joy so I won’t cry.
Red courage stains on desert sands,
youth drained out in cruel lands,
white-knuckled fear,
all fossilize this PFC with gaping eyes.
That’s the gift I give to you,
olive drab, red, white, and blue.


Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Innkeeper's Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas, and all up and down
there were bone-weary travelers in Bethlehem town.
The stern edict had gone out from Caesar himself,
each man should return now to pay from his wealth.

To their ancestors’ hometown they each must now go
to pay taxes and tribute – all men, high and low.
The descendants of David were gathering here
in the village of Bethlehem; rooms were quite dear.

It was late in the evening by light of the moon
when a man known as Joseph asked me for a room.
“I’m so sorry,” I told him, “My inn is so crammed
’tween the mats and the bedding you can’t lay a lamb.”

Then he mentioned his wife, said the room was for her,
and he asked me to help him, “I beg of you, sir.”
I told him I’d let all the rooms – even mine –
Then abruptly I started – the barn would do fine!

You’d have thought I had offered a fine, regal house.
He fashioned a place for her bed near the cows,
then led her to lie in the haphazard bed
and bundled his cloak to place under her head.

I walked down the path to my own crowded dwelling
but paused when I fancied a melody swelling.
“Not so,” I decided, and quickened my step.
“It’s that glow on their faces I cannot forget.”

While I stood at the doorway to gather my thoughts
and go into the inn filled with people and cots
something flashed in the sky then grew bright ’til it shone –
There! A brilliant new star lit the animals’ home.

Right there in the doorway, my soul filled with peace,
And I felt such a wonderful rush of relief.
I turned toward the hill and the manger aglow.
Such a radiance filled the whole valley below

where a small band of shepherds stood huddled in fear
as they stared toward the sky and the Being up there.
Now I never had seen here on earth or up high
any angels, but there was one up in the sky.

The glory of God filled the sky with bright light.
It seemed as I looked to be day and not night.
Then he said to the shepherds who quaked with their fear,
“Don’t be scared. I have great news that you’ll want to hear.

For not only to you but to all of the earth
I bring news of great joy in the form of a birth.
For the Christ child you wait for is born here tonight
and he lies in that barn where the star’s shining bright.

There his mother has wrapped him in pieces of cloth
and she’s laid him to sleep in a cow’s eating trough.”
In a flash appeared hundreds of angels with him
And the heavens were filled with the strains of a hymn:

“Now to God be the glory, on earth be my peace,
and may feelings of malice throughout the world cease.”
Just as quick as they’d come all those angels were gone
and the shepherds stood wondering ’til one said, “Come on.

Let’s go see what the angels have told us about –
come along, time’s a’wasting.” And he started out.
All the others soon followed to where the star shone,
after leaving the sheep in the valley alone.

They all came to my manger and stooped to go in
to the once humble place and the glory within.
There Joseph was standing by Mary, his wife,
who was stroking the child that first night of his life.

And the song of the angels again softly rang
as we knelt to the King, he whose birth they proclaimed.
Then I heard the dear mother in voice, oh, so slight,
“A glad CHRISTmas to all on this most holy night.”



Monday, December 23, 2019

Are You Standing in Your Sunshine?

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do you get in your own way?
Do you block yourself off from sunshine?
Do you direct your attention to others’ lives
to the detriment of seeing what’s wrong
with you?  Giving advice to others,
volunteering to improve their lives…
that’s intruding. Discerning advice for yourself
is facilitating your own growth.
Today, don’t stand in your own sunshine!

Sunday, December 22, 2019

All You Owe is Love

All you owe any person in the world is love, and love is wishing for everyone what you wish for yourself – health, happiness, and all the blessings in life. ~ Joseph Murphy
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV: “Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So how do we love our neighbor as ourself?
We must first assume we love ourself.
When we manage this frequently Herculean task,
we find love by wanting for our fellows
what we want for ourselves…
health, happiness, and all the blessings in life!
I love you. I wish for you health,
happiness, and all the blessings in life!

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Your Window to the World

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. ~ George Bernard Shaw
It’s always my fault…
at least it’s always my responsibility.
I can ask for serenity to accept
what I can’t change,
to change what I can change,
and for wisdom to know the difference…
but that wisdom tells me
the ONLY thing I can change is me!
So I better keep myself clean and bright,
for I am the window through which
I must see the world!
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Friday, December 20, 2019

Know How to Love

oAs soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.  ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Do you you trust yourself?
Who are you. really?
Do you conform your actions,
your thoughts, your values
to those originally someone else’s?
Your parent’s, even when you’ve
seemingly been independent
for decades? Or your spouse,
your social group, the preacher?
Dig past ways you bury yourself,
your needs, wants, and desires.
Begin to listen to yourself
and begin to trust yourself.
Once you can trust yourself,
you can start to live your own life,
for your own reasons.
But trust yourself also to
have a relationship with God
as you understand God,
and you can reach beyond fears
that once claimed you
and find you really do
know how to live.
                Image copyright : leekris

Thursday, December 19, 2019

About Step Eleven

As a result of the actions of Steps 4-10, we removed the things that were blocking us from God. Now we can carry out the decision we made in Step 3 of turning our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Through prayer and meditation, we can receive God’s will for us and the power to carry it out. ~ McQ, Joe. The Steps We Took (p. 122). August House. Kindle Edition.
Joe McQ explains the connection
between the Third and Eleventh steps:
“We could say that the Steps
have two crucial points:
the turning over of our will
in Step 3 and the receiving of God’s will
in Step 11.” Steps Four through Ten
teach us how to go about receiving God’s Will.
It’s an explanation of the interrelations
of the Steps that rings true.
God, teach me the truth of the commitment
to have Sought through prayer
and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God
as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge
of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Friendship

Our understanding of friendship has changed since being introduced to the Twelve Steps. How we act as friends has changed too. Now we know that friends don’t judge, they don’t try to control, they accept how other people are, and they never betray a confidence. They listen, they love, and they offer hope. And they don’t run away when they don’t like what they hear. What we have learned influences our old friendships too, and everybody benefits. ~ Casey, Karen. Peace a Day at a Time: 365 Meditations for Wisdom and Serenity. Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.
When I was ruled by my compulsion,
by my addiction, by my eating,
I would have told you there were people
who thought I was their friend,
but that I had no friends.
That has changed now that I am in Recovery,
now that I have learned who I am,
I’ve learned I’m neither better (higher)
nor worse (below) my fellows,
that there’s no reason to judge
either them or myself.
I’ve learned to listen, to love, and to offer
and receive hope. I’ve found my family of choice
and I choose to recognize even those
who have not chosen Recovery
and the joys of a Twelve-Step program
as my people as well.
Thank you for being my friend!
Image Copyright : rawpixel

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD

…living in a world characterized by destructive fears as never before in history, we see great areas of faith, and tremendous aspirations toward justice and brotherhood. Yet no prophet can presume to say whether the world outcome will be blazing destruction or the beginning, under God’s intention, of the brightest era yet known to mankind.
In microcosm, we [in A.A.] have experienced this identical state of terrifying uncertainty, each in his own life. In no sense pridefully, we can say that we do not fear the world outcome, whichever course it may take. This is because we have been enabled to deeply feel and say, “We shall fear no evil—Thy will, not ours, be done.” ~ AA World Services Inc. As Bill Sees It. A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
The Big Book, the development of setting up
Recovery happened in the 1930’s.
From the Stock Market crash in the early years,
the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl through
the rise to power of the Axis nations
made a frightening time in history.
But each of us could describe contemporary issues
to rival them. Would you say we’re experiencing
an equivalent state of terrifying uncertainty today?
Can we say with Bill W, we “each in his own life.
In no sense pridefully, we can say that we do not fear
the world outcome, whichever course it may take.
[that] this is because we have been enabled
to deeply feel and say, “We shall fear no evil
—Thy will, not ours, be done.”?

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Self Will Cannot Overcome Self Will

We do well to recall that there are only two wills on earth: God’s will and self-will, and self-will can only be overcome by God’s will. Self-will cannot overcome self-will. That is our greatest trouble: we are trying to make ourselves better. We can’t do it. ~ McQ, Joe. The Steps We Took (p. 43). August House. Kindle Edition.
Pulling yourself up by bootstraps wont cut it.
Self-will cannot overcome self-will.
That is our greatest trouble:
we are trying to make ourselves better.
We can’t do it.
We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills
over to a Power greater than we are.
When we finally and completely get that right
our lives take wings and really are
BEYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS!

God and Me

Do you bargain with God? Do you complain to God more than you express gratitude? Do you tend to pray for specific things rather than pray in appreciation? ~ Myss, Caroline. Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (p. 283). Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. Kindle Edition.
Praying in appreciation?
Never thought of it before…
certainly not in those terms!
But it certainly makes sense.
Gratitude for what we receive
is logical, expected, whether
addressed to God or to a person.
But how often do we set down a to-do list,
coming back to our expectations…
either to remind God of omitted items
remaining, “needing” to be ticked off.
God, teach me to pray,
remembering always
Who of the two of us can best understand
the situation!

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Putting Suffering to Good Use



There are always ways to put suffering to good use. Suffering is never wasted, but there is a loss. There’s a loss of what we could have been, could have accomplished, could have experienced, could have seen, if we hadn’t been enmeshed with the food. You know health-wise there is a loss, just in terms of living life with excess weight, there’s a loss, so depending what all that means to you and what your relationship with food has cost you. There’s going to be more or less grieving involved in that and I just want to give you permission to do that work, to keep doing it. If it keeps coming up for you then it means that you need to keep going there, journal about it, get coaching about it, get support about it through a buddy…. Keep doing the work…. You keep working through it on deeper and deeper levels…. It’s worth doing the work. ~ Susan Pierce Thompson
Has it ever occurred to you to “put suffering to good use?”
Isn’t that what we do when we tell our stories,
what it was like, what happened, what it’s like now?
We think of that usually as helping others, not ourselves,
yet it’s a truism of recovery that we often speak as much
to ourselves as to others both in the passage we randomly read
in a meeting and what we say in sponsoring, or in sharing.
We need to understand the benefit of working through
regrets we may have, experiences of awareness
we’ll never be “normal” eaters, that we have the right
to grieve the “loss” though it helps mightily to
simultaneously appreciate what we’ve gained!
Let’s learn to put suffering to good use as well
as counting our blessings.
Is your journal your best friend?
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Friday, December 13, 2019

Leave a Trail

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
What awaits away from the well-worn path?
Is there something you were meant to see?
Something you might discover, an idea, an understanding
you were meant to fund and share with the world?
As you walk through life with your God,
be ready to go new places and blaze new trails.

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Eating Your Words

Why not try a diet of the right words—for you are literally eating your words. That is the value of the affirmation. You are deliberately building up a constructive idea in your consciousness. Your consciousness may be crammed and jammed with destructive ideas, but continually making a statement of Truth, will dissolve these negative thought-forms. ~ Scovel-Shinn, Florence. The Power of the Spoken Word. Start Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.
Did you ever consider
that eating your words
might be desirable?
It’s good when you
you want dumb words
you’ve said to dissolve,
evaporate…
But what about healthy words?
Words like faith, love, honor, truth?
Do we internalize…become…
the words we ingest?
Can it be true that
continually making
a statement of Truth,
will dissolve
the negative thought-forms?
I’m willing to eat words
to become a loving honest person.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Take Captive Every Thought

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:5 New International Version (NIV)
Take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ,
to God as you understand God…
How do you take captive your thoughts?
WHY do you take captive your thoughts?
Because you’re in charge, not your thoughts.
If the thoughts are in charge you’re carried away,
enmeshed in doubt and fear, frozen,
unable to function. But if you capture the thoughts,
make them obedient to your Higher Power,
if you surrender them along with the fear and doubt,
all of  you, emotions included, are in the loving hands
of the God of your understanding.

Monday, December 9, 2019

Sacred Awe

May Sacred Awe come down upon me. May it come down upon you. May we spend the rest of our days living in truth, beauty, and wonder. ~ Faith B.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me, your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands. ~ Psalm 138:8
Sacred: is ideal and transcends everyday existence,
it is extra-ordinary, potentially dangerous,
awe-inspiring, fear inducing. (David Émile Durkheim)
Awe: a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.
Sacred Awe: The highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge,
or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory,
but something even greater,
more heroic and more despairing:
Sacred Awe! (Nikos Kazantzakis)
Interesting description…
The highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge,
or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory,
but something even greater,
more heroic and more despairing!
More heroic AND more despairing?
I prefer the rest of our days
living in truth, beauty, and wonder.
Do we want to be devoid of hope?
Maybe it’s clearer with a different
quote from Kazantzakis:
“The canary is like man’s soul,”
he whispered finally.
“It sees bars round it,
but instead if despairing, it sings.
It sings, and wait and see, Brother Leo:
one day its song shall break the bars.”
Let us have sacred awe
sufficient to break the bars!
Image copyright : Bruce Rolff

Sunday, December 8, 2019

I'm an Errant Toddler

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ~ Hebrews 10:1-4 (NIV)
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism.  ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 85
Wake praying,
turning life
and the living it over to God,
Move through the day
surrendering again, then again.
Yesterday’s piety
counts for nothing,
commitments coming tomorrow,
next year,
fifty years out
count for nothing.
Today matters,
just this day,
just this surrender,
just today’s willingness
and peace.
God, I’m an errant toddler
straying from safety,
forgetting the peace
of compliance,
of surrender.
Show me.
Rollins, Barbara. A Cloud of Witnesses -
Two Big Books and Us .
Eagle Wings Press
imprint of Silver Boomer Books.
Kindle Edition.

Saturday, December 7, 2019

A Day that Lives inInfamy

Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese planes, in a surprise attack which prompted President Franklin Roosevelt to declare in a speech the following day that December 7th would be “a date which will live in infamy.”
More than seven thousand US citizens
were born December 7, 1941.
About half that many were killed
or wounded at Pearl Harbor that day.
My grandfather was born Fifty-three years earlier.
His son served in the Army, beginning
as a Second Lieutenant, ending as  a Lieutenant Colonel
while his daughter struggled to say Grandpop,
setting the precedent for seven younger granddaughters
to shorten the sobriquet to “Pop.”
No matter how awful the events of any day…
no person, or consequence, or connotation
can curse a day and erase the good,
nor quell the evil that has colored a day.

Friday, December 6, 2019

A Quiet, Expectant Mind

Inherent in every problem or challenge is its solution. Our greatest lesson in life may be to keep it simple, to know that no problem stands in our way because no solution eludes a quiet, expectant mind. ~ Casey, Karen. Peace a Day at a Time: 365 Meditations for Wisdom and Serenity. Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.
A solution built in to every problem,
each challenge…
All we need do is keep it simple,
to expect the solution to come…
to know all we need do
is to take the time to quiet our mind,
to know we don’t need analytics
or even to know that means
the systematic computational analysis
of data or statistics.
We need no genius intellect,
for God speaks on our own level.
and no solution eludes us when we come.
ready for guidance with a quiet, expectant mind.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Afraid of Being Noticed

Feeling apart from the action and always looking on; wanting attention, and yet afraid of being noticed; no doubt these are familiar memories to most of us. ~ Casey, Karen. Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women. Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.
This rings true for me. How about you?
Everybody knows everyone else
and I’m outside looking in.
I want to participate but I’ve not been invited…
why can’t I just invite myself?
Other people do. Why doesn’t anyone invite me?
Don’t look at me, just leave me alone…
It’s like a poem about horses I wrote years ago…
Apart.
Alone.
New pony in the paddock.
Bannockburn grazes, gazes,
gauges access to the trough….
Gaelic ground shudders, shivers, settles
with winded horses gathered at the trough.
Bannockburn grazes, a part.

image Copyright : Jan Mika

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

A Part of Nature

When I surrendered my compulsion to God, I found the absolute rhythm and followed it with absolute trust. It is as close as a human being can come to being a part of nature. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 3128-3130). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Have you felt the magic?
The magic of it all shifting to great?
The absolute rhythm followed
with absolute trust?
Have you suddenly seen
and suddenly fit into the pattern,
melding with  the world, with nature,
realizing God is not in the universe,
the universe is in God,
that you are in God as well,
a part of the mystery,
a mystery yourself,
as close as a human being can come
to being a part of nature?
God is Good,
you are God’s,
and the universe
is in sync with you,
and you with it?
Blessed are We
to be God’s people!
Image Copyright : Nicola Zalewski

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Instructions for Living

[Peace Pilgrim’s] instructions to others were, in keeping with the nature of truth, ever so simple: “I don’t eat junk food, and I don’t think junk thoughts.” Translation: Honor the body, honor the mind, honor the spirit. ~ Myss, Caroline. Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing (p. 255). Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony. Kindle Edition.
I love the simplicity of this —
“I don’t eat junk food,
and I don’t think junk thoughts.”
Translation: Honor the body,
honor the mind,
honor the spirit.
Her simple wisdom also proclaimed,
“One little person,
giving all of her time to peace,
makes news.
Many people,
giving some of their time,
can make history.”
Let us honor her truth in these ways:
Honor the body,
honor the mind,
honor the spirit.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Crisis?

When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters—one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. ~ John F. Kennedy
Danger juxtaposed with opportunity,
in fact that does describe a crisis…
as well as giving us an idea why
a wise and caring God would sanction crises.
Danger is/should be character developing,
and when apposed to danger
through the wisdom of that judicious deity
opportunity results rather than chaos.
Image Copyright : alphaspirit

Sunday, December 1, 2019

The Kindness of Others

At times like these, it’s good to remember the tiny acts of kindness others have done for us and how much they meant. That’s our indication that someone else mattered in our lives. We have offered just such help many times too and the circle is completed. ~ Casey, Karen. Keepers of The Wisdom Daily Meditations: Reflections From Lives Well Lived. Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.
I was new in town, nine years old, in a small town
where everybody knew everybody.
I’d made one buddy and she and I…
to my utter amazement went all over town.
One day for some reason, having walked
to the two street by four blocks
that made up downtown,
we went into the bus station
for some long-forgotten reason.
A down time, the only employ on duty
looked at me, a pudgy youngster in pigtails,
and said the kindest words possible,
“You have a pretty face.”
More than sixty years have come and gone
and the comment still warms my heart.
It’s good to remember
the tiny acts of kindness
others have done for us
and how much they meant.
Have we offered just such help
many times too?
Is the circle completed?
Let’s pass out kindness today!

Saturday, November 30, 2019

All I Have to Do Is Be Me

Today I can risk being myself. I don’t have to live up to anyone’s image. All I have to do is be me. ~ Family Groups, Al-Anon. Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II. Al-Anon Family Groups. Kindle Edition.
Funny that it never occurred to us before, but our entire identity was wrapped in our need to be right, to be in control. Can we really part with that need? ~ Casey, Karen. Daily Meditations for Practicing The Course. Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Can you risk being yourself?
Are you trying to be what’s expected?
Are the expectations yours?
Your parents’…parents gone these last thirty years?
Are you wrapped up in the need to be right?
to be in control? Can you set aside
that need to be right, to be in control?
Can you accept the fact
that all you gave to be is to be you?
Take the risk. Accept the truth,
repeat after me,
“All I have to do is be me!”