A Prayer & Some Thoughts - September

[bluidkiti]

September 24

Prayer for Patience

Lord,
Teach me to be patient - with life, with people, and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my own and to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein.

Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds.
Amen

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Just a Thought

For many of us, our spiritual awakening began when we first heard our Higher Power might be our group.

We learned that God may exist in the connections between people in our group just as well as within each individual.
When we ask another member to listen to us, we contribute to the strength of this spirit. When we give someone a ride to a meeting or spread the word about this program to other suffering men and women, we make a contribution and receive its benefits. Even now, if we need a renewal of confidence in God's presence in our lives, we can telephone another member and just talk. We will quickly sense the spirit.

So ............

Am I grateful to feel God's presence in my life and within the people around me?

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Just a Contemplation

Getting Through Hard Times

Hard times, stressful times, are not all there is to life, but they are part of life, growth, and moving forward. What we do with hard times, or stress, is our choice.

Hard times can motivate and mold us to bring out our best. We can use these times to move forward and upward to higher levels of living, loving, and growth. The choice is ours.

We do not always require stress, to motivate us to grow and change. We do not have to create stress, seek it, or attract it. But if it's there, we can learn to channel it into growth and use it for achieving what's good in life.

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Compliance Isn’t Acceptance

We are sometimes mystified when people come into the AA program, respond to its message for months or years, and then disappear, seemingly without a trace. Later, we may be shocked to learn that they’re drinking again. One possible explanation is that they were practicing compliance without really accepting the program. The danger of compliance is that it may simply be an outward show of working the program while leaving one’s real thoughts and feelings unchanged. For example, to “bring the body” to meetings in the belief that their heart will follow. This does little good if one’s heart does not follow!

The only solution is to continue the difficult but rewarding search for honesty in all things. When we examine ourselves honestly, we will recognize when we are truly accepting and when we are merely complying.

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Just a Quote

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” ~ Mithra Phuka