The Promises

 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. ~ Galatians 3:14-18 (NIV )

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. ~ A.A. World Services Inc. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Are these extravagant promises?
We think not.
A promise is a promise is a promise.
And when those promises come
from the Big Book or the
Big Big Book
they’re not to be taken lightly!
We have come to believe them
because through the years,
whether
millennia or decades,
the proof is in the living.

God, thanks for knowing
our proclivity to doubt
and providing over the years
the proof we need!

 

 

Addiction and Recovery

What Insight! What Understanding!
How true the Parallels are!
When you walk into the Rooms of Recovery
it can feel so unreal, so impossible to get
what all those other people seem to have!
It feels as though you’re giving up everything
but that so not true!
A recovery friend of mine sent it to me
and I knew I had to share it with you!
Addiction is giving up EVERYTHING —
for one thing.
Recovery is giving up one thing 
for EVERYTHING!!
“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.
May I do Thy will always!”*

 

*The Third Step Prayer

Continuing to Practice the Spiritual Principles

 

Even when challenges happen, as they do in life, we know we have a way of sanely facing each situation. We have seen that our Higher Power will reveal something of value to us with every experience, as long as we continue practicing these spiritual Principles. ~ Overeaters Anonymous.The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition (p. 82). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The spiritual Principles
for each of the Steps are
for Step One: Honesty
for Step Two: Hope
for Step Three: Faith
for Step Four: Courage
for Step Five: Integrity
for Step Six: Willingness
for Step Seven: Humility
for Step Eight: Self-discipline
for Step Nine: Love
for Step Ten: Perseverance
for Step Eleven: Spiritual Awareness
ad for Step Twelve: Service.
So, when I master the principles of
honesty, hope, faith,
courage, integrity, willingness,
humility, self-discipline, love,
perseverance, spiritual awareness,
and service, then I will have a way
of sanely facing each situation…
but I’ve got some work to do first!

Who's Missing?

 The pandemic has ended at long last.

The Rooms of Recovery ca happen again
within the walls of a physical room!
Once again we can hold hands
as we say, “I put and my hands in yours
and together we can do
what we could never do alone.
No longer is there a sense of hopelessness,
no longer must we each depend
upon our own unsteady willpower.
We are all together now,
reaching out our hands
for power and strength greater than ours,
and as we join hands,
we find love and understanding
beyond our wildest dreams!”*
Finally we can hold hands again!
At last we sit around a table and
hug and hold hands and receive chips
for notable accomplishments!
Everything is…or should be…
live again, not images on a screen.
But why does it feel wrong?
Because friends we met from around the world
no longer can casually join us…
until we manage to make it all complete,
a physical group with new friends zooming in!

* From I Put My Hand in Yours ©1968…1995 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.

 

Wisdom and Kindness

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Wisdom and kindness
don’t seem like synonyms
or even related words.
Is wisdom a form of kindness?
Is kindness a form of wisdom? 

 

Let’s be wise…and do it by being kind!

FTP by Design

 

 

Prayer Is Cognitive Devotion

 

Many people wonder, “Am I praying correctly? Am I doing this right?” All that is needed in order to pray is sincerity within our supplication, love within our heart, and a longing to become closer with the Divine so that we can hear the whispers of teachings that He longs to give us. Praying mechanically is useless. Our consciousness must be alert, here and now, in order to be able to grasp the guidance from within. ~ Keerthana, Surekha Minati. A Gnostic Prayer Book: Collected Prayers, Mantras, and Meditations . SCB Distributors. Kindle Edition.

I wondered, “Am I praying correctly?
Am I doing this right? Lord, teach me to pray.”
My new screen saver says,
God Wants to Talk to You.
I am a spiritual being living in a physical world.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “It is better in prayer
to have a heart without words
than words without a heart.”
Prayer is cognizant devotion.

Know Yourself

 

“Life is short.  
Time is fleeting.
Realize the Self.
Purity of the heart is the gateway to God.
Aspire. Renounce. Meditate.
Be good; do good.
Be kind; be compassionate.
Inquire, know Thyself.” ~  Swami Sivananda

Aspire. Renounce. Meditate.
Be good; do good.
Be kind; be compassionate.
Inquire, know Thyself.
Aspire: Direct one’s hopes or ambitions
towards achieving something.
Renounce: relinquish, resign, step aside from.
Be good; do good. Being good is an abstraction,
an idea about yourself or others.
Doing good is an action,
towards yourself or others.
Be kind; be compassionate.
Kind is love; love is kind.
Inquire, know yourself.
to understand yourself fully
understand your own emotions,
desires, abilities….
Can you get there by understanding
your own emotions, desires and abilities?
etc. I was so young then. I really didn’t know myself
When I was a child, I talked like a child,
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a [wo]man,
I put the ways of childhood behind me.*

*1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

Sri Swami Sivananda

I Lack Nothing

     1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake. ~ Psalm 23, NIV

Of course we can quote the 23rd Psalm
but sometimes the words we know
are in arcane language and a newer translation
can startle us. I love the language,
“I lack nothing,” and “He guides me
along the right paths.”
What’s a favorite passage you have memorized?
How would you say it in conversation?
Romans 8:1 King James Version:
There is therefore now
no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit.
People aren’t in trouble
If they’re in with Jesus
in their essence,
not ordinary people ignoring
all things holy?
Try your hand at it!
Write a passage in the vernacular!

Image Copyright: feverpitched

Our Porpose

 

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? ~ George Eliot

Deciding to do the loving thing
is certainly the way to live.
But when would doing the loving thing
not be doing the kind thing?
Virtually never! And it’s ever so easy
to know what kindness is
in some situations.
What do we live for,
if it is not to make life
less difficult for each other?
Let’s choose to do the kind thing!

Don't Make a U-Turn from Recovery

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. (Galatians 1:6, NLT)

---

---

Above all, he believed he had acquired such a profound knowledge of the inner workings of his mind and its hidden springs that relapse was unthinkable. Nevertheless, he was drunk in a short time. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall. (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 26)

---

---

From the welcoming arms,

the sense of relief,

the portal to recovery,

shouldn't the path lead only in?

How did I manage to turn,

how did I go back out?

So soon, and without

a thought,

without a reason,

abandoning the hope

I'd found...

I know others who never got back,

who let embarrassment win,

whose pride locked the door.

But some, including me,

made a U-turn

and reentered, determined to stay,

knowing how easy

leaving was,

how glorious staying

is.

God, give me the sense

to stay put

in recovery.

Choose Love

 

It’s a fact, clear and simple, that any unhappiness is attributable to our own perception, our own response to the people and activities surrounding us. Trying to blame others for how we feel won’t work once we begin working the Twelve Steps. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Only we can make ourselves unhappy.
It is a choice and can be, should be,
a conscious one! We have two options
available in each interaction with others.
We can love and act on that love
or we can allow anger, resentment,
or negativity toward others involved,
no matter whether they approach with love or fear.
Alone we have two choices no matter
that the negative thoughts want to dominate.
If we learn anything in Twelve-Step Recovery
it’s that we’re responsible for our own thoughts and actions
and we can always choose to recover!

I hang out with my guru in my heart.
And I love everything in the universe.
That's all I do all day. ~ Ram Dass

Ask For It

 

“Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” God has unlimited power. There is no limit to what His power can do in human hearts. But we must will to have God’s power and we must ask God for it. ~ Anonymous. Twenty Four Hours A Day: Meditations (p. 158). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

John 15. A lot like Matthew 7.
But I’m thinking “knock
and the door will be opened”
may really mean, when we knock
the door’s already open,
the knocking just shows us that.
God puts no barriers between us.
It’s our unwillingness that seals the door,
our conviction we’re not worth
anybody’s attention, certainly not God’s!
But we’re wrong. We’re worthy…
of people around us, even of God’s notice.
And He actually PREFERS we seek Him out!

My Prayer

 

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly….

But I, by your great love,
can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
toward your holy temple.

Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me….

Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.~ Psalm 5:3, 7-8, 12 (NIV)

God, I read today, “Fortunately,
we have the capacity to choose,
over and over again,
the voice we prefer hearing.”*
And from Psalm 11, “In the Lord I take refuge.”
I like the concept of being in you!
I’ve quoted before (in nine other Recovery Daily Doses,
the statement  “God is in me
like the ocean in a wave,
not like a blueberry in a muffin.”
But I am in you as well.
Thank you for being with me always.

*Casey, Karen. Each Day a Renewed Beginning (p. 9). Mango Media. Kindle Edition.

Hope Is Risk

 Hope is the risk that must be run. ~ George Bernanos

To run the risk – exposing self
to possibly unpleasantness.
Hope is the risk;
the risk is hope.
Risk, a word sprung
from danger.
So is danger ancestor
to hope? How deep the kinship?
Risk, hope – how deep the kinship!

Cursed No Longer

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. ~ Galatians 3:13-14

“I had been preached to, analyzed, cursed, and counseled, but no one had ever said, ‘I identify with what’s going on with you. It happened to me and this is what I did about it.’” ~ Story “He Only Lived to Drink” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc.

Do the ends always
justify the means?
Does a blessing ever come
from being cursed?
Is the world cursed
through the law?
Or was it before Christ?
Paul thought so,
believed the curse was lifted
through Jesus and
fulfilled promises.
Are we cursed by addiction
until Recovery comes
from the despair
of ruined lives?

God, thank you for
taking away the pain,
for replacing it with
the knowledge and comfort
of your love, for teaching us to love
ourselves and those around us!

 

 

Precise Speaking

 

Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. ~ Galatians 3:15-16 (NIV)

You may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism for jay-walking, the illustration would fit us exactly. However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It’s strong language—but isn’t it true? ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition.

We are each charged
with carrying the message
to those who still suffer.
We are talking to folks
who aren’t accustomed
to hearing stories
of embarrassing situations
like they have lived as well.
But the surprise that we would speak
of things they’d never confess
but vividly remember
may be what it takes
to open the door
for them to find
the joy er know
can follow
such humiliation.

God, give me the courage
to share my past
with others
who would love
to find and live
my present!

The Meeting Location Doorknob

 

Around this time our big A.A. book was being written, and it all became much simpler; we had a definite formula that some sixty of us agreed was the middle course for all alcoholics who wanted sobriety, and that formula has not been changed one iota down through the years. I don’t think the boys were completely convinced of my personality change, for they fought shy of including my story in the book, so my only contribution to their literary efforts was my firm conviction—since I was still a theological rebel—that the word God should be qualified with the phrase “as we understand Him”—for that was the only way I could accept spirituality. ~ “The Vicious Cycle” story from A.A. World Services Inc.  Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc. Kindle Edition.

I’ve never questioned a God as I understand God.
I’ve written literature for two denominations,
taken a course in New Testament Greek,
been church staff in three congregations,
a volunteer in several others…
I’ve never questioned a God as I understand God.
Where I have difficulties is in talking to that God.
I can repeat by rote prayers of all kinds,
can ask God’s blessings on a long list
of names and situations I said I would pray for,
but in all those years and situations
I’ve never gotten comfortable chatting with God.
There was one time fifty-two summers ago
I went into a tiny chapel and presented the alternatives
I must soon choose between, and God told me clearly
the correct choice. I remember the sensation
of knowing the right decision…the one I was afraid of,
the uncomfortable one.
But I’ve sat with the disciples often,
begging, “Lord, teach me to pray!”
Yet I still struggle with prayer and meditation.
But something happened today!
Donna A. told a recovery group
of hearing it said in another,
“If you don’t have a Higher Power
consider the doorknob to this room
as a Higher Power until you find another!”
I choose to learn to pray daily or hourly,
or without ceasing, so I’ll substitute any doorknob
to be God as I Understand God
and an ever-present help in time of need…
which is to say always!

Circumcise YourHeart?

  

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ~ Deuteronomy 10:16

Physical circumcision was a sign
of Israel’s covenant with God.
But here and in Romans
the Bible speaks of circumcision of the heart.
It’s certainly not a kind oh heart surgery
suggested. Rather, like the physical surgical act,
this circumcision is a symbol, a surrender,
an attachment to, not a taking from.
As I see the meaning, it’s the same
as the Third Step Prayer:
“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. May I do Thy will always!”
Circumcision of the heart
indicates our being set apart
to love God fully, inside and out.

Unbelief

 “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” ~  Mark 9:24 NIV

Unbelief? It's in the dictionary
as well as in the Bible!
"the state or quality of not believing;
incredulity or skepticism,
especially in matters
of doctrine or religious faith."
When the disciples asked
why they could not cure 
the  possessed boy, Jesus told them,
“This kind cannot be driven out
by anything but prayer.”
What he had said to the child's father
was “If you can?” said Jesus. 
“Everything is possible for one who believes.”
God, with that bot's daddy, I answer, 
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Collingswood Church of Christ

 

Red Rover

 Look at me.
Will somebody pick me?
Please somebody pick me.
No don’t pick me.
I might not break through.
Don’t pick me.
Don’t look at me.

image Copyright : Jan Mika

Perspective

 Relentless days wrest center stage
from forebears hardly ripe
as calendars slough off each page
with calibrated swipe.
From Gerber pears to bubble-gum
seems but a month or less
and calculus replaces sums
like tic-tac-toe to chess.
So halt that whirling dervish time;
suspend it by sheer will
and patty-cake to nursery rhyme
while child is cuddly still.

Distance

 Twenty-nine days in the hospital's care;
Six times I've driven to check on you there.
Thirty-some times by the telephone line
asking of you and appeasing my mind.
Thirty two years since I left our hometown,
tethered by love, flying high, anchored down.
How many months have I failed to call home?
Years slipped away, my own family's grown.
Longing now draws me to you once again
over the greening of flat Texas plain.
Anson and Stamford and Haskell I've passed,
towns on the highway, each like the last.
Cotton gins, stock tanks, and lacy mesquites,
pump jacks and furrows with hope-sown new wheat.
It's eighty miles yet to the village Dundee
where mixed with the cattle eight camels roam free.
Not a surprise now, I know they are there,
symbols to me of a truth I should share.
Daddy, I love you, now get back your strength;
Mother and you will return home at length.
Starting today I’ll be often in sight,
incongruous as camels in Texas sunlight.

Play the Game

 

“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” ~ Babe Ruth

Are you afraid of the future?
All you have is the present!
The past is past and cannot be changed.
The future may be what you hope for
or something you cannot imagine,
something you expect or a complete surprise!
All you have is the present, and that’s a gift…
They have the same name.
You have an ally, though.
Like in the movie Camelot,
characters with Merlin Sickness
live or age backwards in time.
God is like that, already knows
what will happen. And He’s in charge.
You can trust him. Put your trust there.
What should happen will happen.
Trust the future to work.
Don’t let fear of striking out
keep you from playing the game.

Send Me

 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried – those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. ~ Ecclesiastes 8.9-10 (NIV)

“When in the course of human events
it becomes necessary….”*
Tough times bring out the best —
and the worst —
in us.
But wait a minute. Go back to the first,
to “When.” To The Teacher’s “a time.”
Simple words?
No. Not simple, not here.
When’s it when? Who told the
scared patriots in Philadelphia heat?
“With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,
our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”*
I’m scared now like they were then.

God, I feel like Isaiah.
Woe is me.
But if you say so, here I am.
Send me.**

*US Declaration of Independence

**Isaiah Chapter 6

A Time for Verse: Poetic Ponderings on Ecclesiastes by Barbara B. Rollins

Obey the King

 

Obey the kingʼs command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the kingʼs presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a kingʼs word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ~

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time.

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, and procedure.
though a manʼs misery weighs heavily upon him. ~ Ecclesiastes 8:2-6 (NIV)

 

Who but the king would say this?
Who can say to him
“What’s that you’re up to?”
Somebody foolish.
Somebody brave.
Somebody unafraid of death.
Or worse.
Sometimes a statesman would,
a patriot,
a person who listens to God first
then dares to follow.

God, teach us to pick our fights
but to be willing to fight for you.

A Time for Verse: Poetic Ponderings on Ecclesiastes by Barbara B. Rollins

Prayer Changes the Dynamics

 

We can hold only one thought at a time. Making the one thought we are dwelling on a prayer in a time of turmoil means we can’t be thinking that someone ought to be doing something they aren’t currently doing. This is a great shorthand way of changing who we are and how every moment feels. ~ Casey , Karen. Let Go Now (p. 135). Mango Media. Kindle Edition.

I choose to write on ideas I need to hear,
knowing how badly I really need to hear.
God, teach me to pray. You understand deeply
how superficial, how vapid are my prayers.
Take away the flimsy efforts, repeating
a string of memorized prayers, of naming names
and trusting you to cut through the detritus
and address the right issue. Since the only thing
I can change is me, I ask you to show me how
it is I need to change and to get me out of your way.
For those other things to which I call your attention,
show me what my part is, and let me trust you
to take care of the rest! God, teach me to pray.
Thank you for listening.

 

You Are a Gift

 All along, you have been a gift to yourself and to the Universe. ~ Beattie, Melody. The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series (p. 188). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Do you feel like you’re a gift to yourself?
Does it ring true you’re a gift to the universe?
Are you willing to be a gift?
Are you ready to confirm you’re worthy,
you’re a good person, a presence benefiting yourself?
Is the world a better place because you’re here?
Who would avow you make the world better,
that you are a wonderful individual?
Would your mother, your spouse, your child?
What would they point to as to your greatness?
Can you see why? Can you feel great?
I challenge you to fulfill your natural role!
I dare you to be a gift to yourself and to the Universe!