Take the First Step

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Lord will provide. 
Genesis chapter 22
Tells of God telling Abraham,
“Take Isaac, your only son,
whom you love,
and sacrifice him on the mountain
I will show you.”
We know the story
and understand why
Abraham named the place
“The Lord will Provide.” 
We want to know the whole plan,
but only the Director of the play
needs to understand,
that the rest of us
need only trust the Director.
Abraham would have well understood
the concept that
faith is taking the first step
even when you don’t see
the whole staircase.

 

  

A Warm Blanket of Worthiness

 

You can be wrapped in a warm blanket of worthiness if you will allow it. ~Abraham Hicks

We seem to try to make life harder.
I made a pie tonight, messed it up
as well as the plate under it in the oven.
My husband asked why I was crying.
I wasn’t, but I was distressed.
I had already cleaned the mess,
ot inconvenienced nobody but me.
And the kitchen will be clean when I get up.
Why do we react to inconveniences?
Why do we pass up the a warm blanket
of worthiness our loving Father provides.
Why is it so hard to remember the good
when the bad is so minor an issue?
And everything is minor when
we only hold on to the appropriate perspective.

Image Copyright : Parinya Agsararattananont

More Worthy Than I Thought

If I’d have achieved what I thought I was capable of, I’d have sold myself short. ~ Greg G.

How fairly do you judge yourself?
Is there a bad choice in your past you feel
shoes you as a looser, someone who never
can redeem yourself? Have the courage
to turn yourself around. Believe it or not
you may find yourself when you work through
the bumps in the road looking at what you’ve done
and saying, “If I’d have achieved what I thought
I was capable of, I’d have sold myself short!”
Believe in yourself, and give yourself a great reward!

Imsge Copyright : Artur Szczybylo

 

Hitting Bottom

 

Other bottoms can include a different scenario. A person may be extremely successful and self-sufficient, but secretly believes he has no real friendships. Understanding feelings and spirituality can be confusing to this person. This person may be addicted to work or some other compulsive behavior. The person usually seeks an intellectual relationship with a Higher Power. ~ ACA WSO Inc. Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families, ACA WSO Inc. Kindle Edition.

It took me most of a lifetime to hit bottom,
to reach a place where I felt compelled
to admit powerlessness over my problem
and reach out for help. Sure, I’d tried self-help,
groups aimed at my compulsion,
but was I powerless in my mind? No.
I had a good job, was respected,
appreciated except, I believed,
by those closest to me. I told people
so-and-so considered me a friend
but I had no friends. And a Higher Power?
I knew the Bible, church history,
theology, but I had no God personal to me.
But thank God, he got me to Recovery
and there everybody was my friend
and I relied on them,
felt good they relied on me
and now I’ve got many true friends
inside and outside of Recovery.
Thank God and Recovery,
I’ve been restored for the first time
to Sanity!

Walking Home

 

At the end of the day, we’re all just walking each other home. ~ Ram Dass as quoted by Miranda O

What can any of us do to help each other?
Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot,
often just love them and support them.
But we’ve got a common destination,
the end of the road, and keeping them
in our hearts and soul, we accompany them.
At the end of the day, we’re all
just walking each other home.
Thank you for allowing me to walk with you!

Copyright:GrowingBolder.com

GRATEFUL

      Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
     let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
     Let us come before him with thanksgiving
     and extol him with music and song. ~ Psalm 95:1-2, NIV, Holy Bible, eBook (pp. 585-         586). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

It’s not the Thanksgiving we would have chosen.
It’s not sitting at the table we would have chosen
with the people who mean so much.
The football teams that should play
in my opinion will not face each other.
But the year will end in 36 days,
a year like none before or after.
Let us sing with joy to the Lord,
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song
and a true day of giving thanks!

Responses Change

  

For most of our lives we relied solely on ourselves. When a problem arose, we took care of it or denied it. Looking to other people for help or even suggestions meant we were inadequate. We had invested far too much in trying to make ourselves look good; thus we couldn’t let a problem derail our image. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Were you self-reliant?
Did you believe you needed
to take responsibility for
the whole world, your corner directly,
and the rest of the universe
as a consultant, your opinions
disseminated to the atmosphere
to inform the proper recipients?
Have you become willing to admit
on your own you cannot manage yourself?
Are you ready to discard the image
and live in your own realm
without needing to control it all?
Have your responses changed?

On Awakening

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. (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 86)

God, direct my thinking.
I tend to worry about my body,
remember what’s scheduled,
reprimand myself for well-intended plans,
laid, not implemented. I concern myself
with food, meds, calls to be made,
the oppressive to-do list. Maybe I read
so I can check-off “read recovery lit daily”
but the mind wanders, unless you kick in
in the words of the reading or just breaking through
the mind meddle. And when you do,
and when I pay attention, all my plans and regrets,
lists and shoulds, line up, organized, doable,
ordered, and I can approach the day
prepared. 

The Present Moment

Being alive to truth involves living each present moment. If we are obsessed with the past or preoccupied with the future, we will miss the truth of now. Today we can be who we are and give of our best in whatever situation we find ourselves. ~ L., Elisabeth. Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

We have limited control over our lives.
The past had already happened,
and regrets can change nothing.
The future is unknown and plans for it
may have little effect, while worrying
or obsessing over what may happen
can have a devastating effect on the time
we actually can change, the present,
which is our gift for this day,
our “present” if we welcome it,
embrace it recognizing for THIS day
our choices mean something.
Let us be who we are and give of our best
in whatever situation we find ourselves.
Let us choose to live One Day at a Time!

No Traffic Jams

 

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ~ Matthew 5:41, NIV.

  There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. ~ Roger Staubach

Under the Roman Impressment Law,
a Roman soldier passing a Jew
could order him to carry his pack for one mile.
In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus turned it around.
The first mile might be a legal requirement,
but Jesus said to give another,
to turn it from compliance with an order
to a gift to a stranger.
How do you think the soldiers felt?
Would each of those who met with
the gift of the extra mile use the right
to require a mile the next time?
Roman soldiers no longer exist.
See if you can find a modern parallel today.

Absolute Rhythm with Absolute Trust

 As I watched the seagulls, I thought: “That’s the road to take; find the absolute rhythm and follow it with absolute trust. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

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.

Find the absolute rhythm
and follow it with absolute trust.
What a picture! What a concept.
It would not have beckoned so to me
a few years ago, but I finally did
find the absolute rhythm and I’m
following it with absolute trust.
I so understand the writer in For Today.
since I now have 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.
What freedom, what absolute trust I’ve found!

 

Question with Boldness

 

…shake off all the fears & servile prejudices under which weak minds are servilely crouched. fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear . ~ Thomas Jefferson

We cannot surprise God,
cannot surprise Him,
cannot anger Him
with our doubts, our indecision,
our boldness, our reckless doubts.
God made us, gave us ability to reason,
does not take affront when we use the gift.
If we even go so far as  to question
with boldness the existence of a God
we’re acting in the way He created us.

The Flight of Lot.
Art by Gustave Doré

As Much as We Allow

Our Higher Power gives us as much truth as we are willing to work for and accept. ~ L., Elisabeth. Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Is your recovery stymied?
Have you grown this year
or has the pandemic left you
standing in quicksand,
struggling to move a single step forward?
What do you think of the statement,
“Our Higher Power gives us
as much truth as we are willing
to work for and accept?”
Has your grasp of the truth
become stronger or weaker…
or non-existent through this?
Have you limited the truth you accept?
Have you listened for guidance
from your Higher Power
or declined to take on anything more?
How much truth are you willing to accept? 

How badly do you want it? 

Image Copyright : alphaspirit

 

The Other Side of Fear

 

Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear. ~ George Addair

Do you act as though your mind  is your servant,
or does fear dominate your thoughts,
being your master instead?
Do you feed fears, concentrating
to convey on them ample time and attention,
a lot of energy?
This makes the fears grow, expand,
and dominate the mind.
What dominates our mind dictates our behavior.
Benjamin Franklin wisely directed,

“Do not anticipate trouble,
or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.”
Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear;
don’t go there!

And the Small Stuff

 Eagle Wings Press

When we turn our lives over to our Higher Power, we trust Him to manage the master plan and to direct us in the small details of living each day. ~ L., Elisabeth. Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

We came through the doors
of the Rooms of Recovery
having often prayed for victory
over our obsessive lives
and knowing through the years
that wasn’t enough, that
years of trying and failing
meant we were doing something…
or more specifically everything…
wrong! But when we come to understand
that isn’t enough. When, finally,
we take Step Three, and choose
to turn our lives and our will
over to our Higher Power’s control…
when at long last we get it
When we stop thinking our little issue
could not matter to the Power In Charge,
when we understand like a grandparent,
no part of the “little” life registers as little,
and we understand God so loved the world
and each “little” life in it,
when we truly take Step Three
we’re not in charge, not at fault.
that we need only allow the Power Who Can
to win the game, then we understand
we’re not alone, never again need be,
we actually thrive through just being in the game
and taking direction as needed,
all is well in the world as we stay in the game!

Watching Our Life Change

 Seek to know better the God of our understanding, and do only what he/she would have us do. Remember that we are loved unconditionally, never judged, and we can pass on that which has been so freely given to us.

It can be quite exciting to practice unconditional love instead of judgment, if we choose to see it as an opportunity that will change us from the inside out and change everyone we touch as well. Once again, it’s about changing our mind and watching our life change too! ~ Casey, Karen. Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow. Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

We have at every moment
an opportunity that will change us
from the inside out
and change everyone we touch as well.
It’s about changing our mind
and watching our life change too!
It’s a simple process.
Remembering always
that we are loved unconditionally,
never judged,
and that we can pass on
that which has been so freely given to us.
Love one another and they will love you.
Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
all your soul,
all your mind,
and all your strength.
The second commandment
is equally important:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
The Holy Spirit helps you to love other people.
And totally change their life and yours!

Image Copyright : Pop Nukoonrat

Radiating Love

 St. Augustine taught: “Love and do what you will.” When love is in our hearts, all that we do radiates this love, and our will and God’s are experienced as one. ~ Kenneth Wapnick. Forgiveness and Jesus: The Meeting Place of ‘A Course in Miracles’ and Christianity (Kindle Locations 927-928). Kindle Edition.

Love God and do whatever you please:
for the soul trained in love to God
will do nothing to offend
the One who is Beloved.” ~ Saint Augustine
We have only two options to encounter people:
We can love them, even if we’ve never seen them
or we can react from fear which presents
as anger, as judgement, as accusations, as jealousy,
as feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.
As long as we don’t let the other person’s fear
switch our love to the negatives,
there’s no way out until one of us chooses love over fear
and we radiate this love, and our will
and God’s are experienced as one.
Only with one of us choosing love, radiating love.
Then for the soul trained in love to God
does nothing to offend
the One who is Beloved.
And the world finds peace.
Choose to radiate love. It’s yours
if you ask for it.

Just Breathe

 I heard how the Inner Child or True Self is the way that we connect with our Higher Power, so I wrote out some questions for my Inner Child. I said: “Do you believe in a Higher Power?” He wrote back: “Yes. God is in the stars.” I said: “Can you help me connect with God or let God in?”He wrote back: “It’s not a big deal. Just take in air.” I said: “Breathe?” He wrote: “Yes.” I asked him again: “Will you help me let in a Higher Power?” My Inner Child wrote: “God’s already in.” ~ Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families, ACA WSO Inc. Kindle Edition.

This seems to me a familiar statement.
What I said before is:
God is in me like the ocean
in a wave,
not like a blueberry in a muffin.
And I’m in God, where he is,
what he is, like he is
so long as I surrender,
so long as I seek
to know and to do
his next right thing for me.
Today is it. God is with me. All is well.

Just Breathe. God’s already in.

paper4pc.com

Be an Agent for God

 You are the agent of God at the place where you find yourself. You have reason, intuition, free will, and self-determination; and you can be a good and efficient agent, a poor agent, or a positive detriment, according to the way in which you conduct your life. ~ Fox, Emmet. Find and Use Your Inner Power (p. 203). New Albany. Kindle Edition.

What would an agent for God be?
There are agents? An agent
is defined as someone or something
that makes something happen.
A bee taking pollen from flower to flower
is an example of the bee,
an agent for pollination.
An agent secures and schedules performers.
An agent has authority to act for someone.
But why would Gos need an agent?
Why do we pray, “God, I offer myself to Thee –
to build with me and to do with me
as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self,
that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties,
that victory over them may bear witness
to those I would help of Thy Power,
Thy Love, and Thy Way of Life.”?
Is that not the words of offering to be
God’s agent”

Image © Luminate Home Caren

Compassion

 Being pitied makes us feel not only insignificant and powerless but also subtly shamed. While it’s natural to want understanding and emotional support from other people, we need to see how clearly different these feelings are from pity. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Have you felt you were pitied?
When you willingly accepted 
a situation you knew well,
one that you had considered leaving
or perhaps did? Have you felt pitied?
Did it make you feel not only insignificant
and powerless but also subtly shamed.
Did we misread it? Was it really compassion?
Did you figure it out? How does that make you feel?
How can you grow from your understanding?

Copyright : Anna Yakimova

First Thought Wrong

“First thought Wrong” was a phrase I heard early and often in early recovery. Addicts and alcoholics tend to speak impulsively and act compulsively. Mark [Lundholm] says “Recovery has taught me that first thought wrong properly filtered becomes next right thing” Recovery is not the absence of bad thinking, its the ability to navigate through it with grace by using the tools we have learned in our recovery program. “First thought wrong is my disease, it’s not my future” ~  Pat S. on JayWalkerLodge.com [Thanks, JT]

I don't think I qualify now
for "early Recovery having frequented 
the Rooms of Recovery for over a decade.
I had not heard the concept  of "First Thought Wrong"
until this week. It makes sense though.
especially for newcomers but
it takes a long time in these Rooms
to walk away from trying to control it all
while fighting an unmanageable life.
Will you join me in skipping first instincts,
first turning your life over to a Power who Can,
and wait until a thought really feels it leads
along the Road of Recovery?

 

 

This Too Shall Pass

This too shall pass — like all the other kidney stones. ~ Miranda O

I’ve never had kidney stones
but vividly remember being alone
in a hotel room in December, 1988,
surrounded by people who through the years
would be friends of mine. I later learned
my issue was gallstones.
I don’t know kidney stones
but gallstones are a vivid memory.
We live in a time as a nation, as a world,
that can feel like, “This too shall pass —
like all the other kidney stones.”
You may feel as alone as I did that night.
But the pain will eventually become
a memory like my thirty-two year old one.
But God is in charge,
so find a pair of bunny slippers
and know it will pass! 

Image Copyright : Maria Dryfhout

Build a Door?

If opportunity doesn’t knock – build a door. ~ Milton Berle

Milton Berle was okay as an actor and comedian.
And I have to admire his resourcefulness,
his refusal to give up. But good advice
in the Rooms of Recovery suggests
you ask God to make the better choice
more appealing, the weaker choice
to fade from mind. Other options include

• Calm down your mind.
• Keep an open mind.
• Keep your mind and eyes open to the world around you. …
• Keep your mind open, at all times, being present in every situation.
• Expect to find inspiration.
• Be observant.
• If you meditate regularly, inspiration will be easier to find.

Maybe we should carefully consider
whether a door is necessary. 

This Time

 Thirteen years thirty days ago

I finally committed to lose weight
and made great progress…
for a while…about five months
until I was betrayed as I saw it
and not allowed by others involved
to file a lawsuit to fix it! What could I do
but eat over it, reversing progress
though sometimes I  pulled it together…
until I felt guilty for accepting an honor
though feeling undeserving, so ate over that!
Not a quick learner I read a book,
turned around again, committed
to do the impossible. Who can eat no sugar,
no flour, no sweeteners, no snacks?
And doing the impossible I’m thinner, happier,
saner than ever before,
a year and thirty days later,
one day at a time!

Relishing Life's Insecurities

 

Anyone who would take such a path must be mad. I was terrified. But then, at the moment of my greatest despair, from my unconscious there came a sequence of words, like a strange disembodied oracle from a voice that was not mine: “The only real security in life lies in relishing life’s insecurity.” Even if it meant being crazy and out of step with all that seemed holy, I had decided to be me. ~ Peck, M. Scott.The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth (pp. 124-125). Touchstone. Kindle Edition.

Even if it meant being crazy
and out of step
with all that seemed holy,
I had decided to be me.
What wisdom, and how valuable,
to a young man at the point
of striking out, selecting a different path
based on the sudden insight,
“The only real security in life
lies in relishing life’s insecurity.”
Most of us have many years’
more experience, more natural insight
but do you even now see the truth that
“The only real security in life
lies in relishing life’s insecurity.”
Can you find security in looking at these trying times
and understanding “The only real security in life
lies in relishing life’s insecurity.”?

All I Do

 

I hang out with my guru in my heart. And I love every thing in the universe. That’s all I do all day. ~ Ram Doss

Is not this a description of God as I want to…
as I choose to…understand Him?
While Doss spoke of a real individual,
it certainly for me describes an ideal life.
I hang out with God in my heart.
And I love everything in the universe.
all day That’s all I do all day!

Enough

 He is not poor that hath not much, but he that craves much. ~ Thomas Fuller

Paul told the church at Corinth,
They are being tested by many troubles,
and they are very poor.
“But they are also filled with abundant joy,
which has overflowed in rich generosity.”
When you cultivate a mindset of abundance,
no matter what, you experience true wealth.
Do you habitually live in the Bondage of Abundance
or can you embrace the freedom
of poverty and simplicity?
 

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All I Do

 I hang out with my guru in my heart. And I love every thing in the universe. That’s all I do all day. ~ Ram Doss

Is not this a description of God as I want to…
as I choose to…understand Him?
While Doss spoke of a real individual,
it certainly for me describes an ideal life.
I hang out with God in my heart.
And I love everything in the universe.
all day That’s all I do all day!

 

Keeping no secrets makes life so much simpler. We don’t have to guard our words, being careful of what we tell to whom. Letting others know who we really are gives us the opportunity to experience genuine acceptance. And we are learning every day that these new friends love us just as we are. More importantly, we are learning that we are not all that different from them. This wonderful fellowship is changing all of our lives. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

I know from long experience
the struggle to tell what I told before
to the person I told it.
I actually enjoyed a job with the unusual rule
that I was forbidden to speak out
on any controversial topic.
I continue to live by that rule
though my guess is it no longer
constrains my sharing.
In the Rooms of Recovery,
however letting others know
who I really am gives me
the opportunity to experience
genuine acceptance.
And I’m no longer different, set apart…
I really belong for this wonderful fellowship
is changing my life. What a relief!

cliparts.co

Able to Change

 When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~ Victor Frankl

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.
There are people who change the last phrase
of the prayer to say for the last line
to “and wisdom to know, that’s me.”
We have a choice in all situations
to act in one of two manners.
We can react with love
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’*
There are people who would say
the opposite of love is hate
but a large group of people
believe it is fear. We always
have the opportunity to choose
love and not the opposite.
When we are no longer able
to change a situation,
we are challenged
to change ourselves.
That means choosing love.

*Mark 12:30-32

Your Destiny in Your Hands

 

Despite their outward appearances they remain psychologically still very much the children of their parents, living by hand-me-down values, motivated primarily by their parents’ approval and disapproval (even when their parents are long dead and buried), never having dared to truly take their destiny into their own hands. ~ Peck, M. Scott. The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth (p. 125). Touchstone. Kindle Edition.

Have you grown up?
Have you assumed responsibility
for your own life? Do your parents…
or theirs before them…control you,
your thoughts, your values, your goals?
I often tell myself, echoing my father,
“Don’t be sorry, don’t do it!!”
That’s a hand-me-down value I approve,
one I hope I’ve made mine.
But today and every day,
I hope I will dare to truly
to take my destiny into my own hands.