Spiritual Program

[MajestyJo]

A New Strength

There are times in every life when we feel hurt or alone…
But I believe that these times when we feel lost
and all around us seems to be falling apart
are really bridges of growth.

We struggle and try to recapture the security of what was,
but almost in spite of ourselves,
we emerge on the other side with a new understanding,
a new awareness, a new strength.
It is almost as though we must go through the pain
and the struggle in order to grow and reach new heights.

- - unknown

Have always like this picture. It reminds me of a hymn I learned in my youth. "Leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus." My Higher Power is always there to comfort me, to catch me when I fall, to welcome me when I go to Him.

[MajestyJo]

What it takes to persist

You already have what it takes to persist. For persistence is nothing more than continuing to do what you've been doing.

Persistence makes the difference between no achievement and great achievement. And persistence is available to all who choose it.

The enemy of persistence is that little voice you hear in your head that urges you to give up. When you hear that voice, remember that you don't have to do what it says, and you don't have to fight it either.

Just listen to that voice, allow it to have its say, and then calmly let it go. Keep on going and you'll quickly be beyond it.

Remember often, with great detail and passion, why you've chosen to do what you're doing. Keep your focus on the goal, and know that by continuing to progress on your journey, one step at a time, you'll get there.

Persistence isn't complicated, and it doesn't require you to uncover some deep, dark, closely guarded secret. You have what it takes if you'll simply choose to do what it takes and persist until the job is done.

-- Ralph Marston

I really like this reading. Persistence is how I stayed sober. I just knew I couldn't go back to where I came from, even though I was in denial about being an alcoholic, I just kept coming.

So many times over the years, I have been sick and tired, and tired of being sick. I have had that voice say, "What is the use?" "Enough is enough already!" "Who cares?" only to discover, I care and more importantly, the God of my understanding cares.

It says persist until the job is done, yet I will always be an alcoholic and my disease is there, whether I want to acknowledge it or not. So I have to persist, one day at a time, to do the do things I need for my recovery.

I can't
My God can
Just for today, I choose to let Him.

I can't give up. I can't be a couch potato. I got sober to live. Live clean and sober. If I stop, my disease might catch up and I might let my God go, because I am listening to my disease instead of my God. Step 3 says we need to make a decision to put our life in God's Care. Part of my persistence is saying that prayer and turning my day, one day at a time, to my God and who He would have me be and do.

Instead of being a couch potato, I can rest in my God's Care and know He will lead me in the way He would have me go. Sometimes I just need that quiet time, and persist on not letting anything else interfere, my thoughts or other people's words and actions.

[MajestyJo]

Reflection for the Day 2003

The first psychiatrist to recognize the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Harry Tiebout, used many concepts of The Program in his own practice. Over many years, the doctor's study of the "conversion experience" led him to see, first, that it is the act of surrender which initiates the switch from negative to positive; second, that the positive phase is really a state of surrender which follows the act of surrender; and third, that the state of surrender, if maintained, supplies an emotional tone to all thinking and feeling that insures healthy adjustment. Am I living in a constant state of surrender?

Today I Pray

May I understand that I do not have to "unlearn" my respect for "self-reliance," that trait of character, which I heard praised so often from the time I was a tiny child. Only my understanding of the word must change. For as I come to know that "self" is part of God, that I am nothing except in His Being, there is no quarrel between self-reliance and God-reliance. May I rely upon that self, which is God's.

Today I Will Remember

Not part-god, but part of God.

You are reading from the book:

A Day at a Time by Anonymous

Surrender is such a big part of my recovery. I have to surrender my thoughts, my problems, my joys and my very being over to the God of my understanding.

It is only by surrender that I am empowered to do what I need to do for myself on a daily basis. Of myself I am nothing, but through Him, I can become all things.

I must always remain teachable, open to all things, and most importantly self-honesty. Without that, I am living delusional and full of grandeur of my own self-importance, rather than in love and humility.

Not part-god, but part of God.

Really like this. God is or He isn't! We can be god like or like God's image as to who we should be in today.

[MajestyJo]

Unburden yourself

Many of the little things that cause you continuing frustration can be greatly reduced or eliminated. It's simply a matter of taking the time and making the effort to do so.
The small frustrations are usually the easiest to get rid of. Because they are small, though, you may not have made it a priority to deal with them.

Remember, however, that the small frustrations add up quickly. When combined together, they can impose a major burden on your time and your life.

So make the choice to unburden yourself from them, one by one. Devote some time to ridding yourself of many of those little frustrations that can add together to drag you down.

At first glance, it may seem like a waste to spend an hour or two dealing with something that normally sets you back only a few minutes each day. Yet if you can save yourself those few minutes, day after day, month after month, it can add up to an enormous amount of time.

And by freeing yourself from more and more small frustrations, you free your mind and your spirit to focus on the positive, meaningful things. Find ways to unburden yourself from the little frustrations, and you'll find opportunities to add greatly to the richness of life.

-- Ralph Marston

Had a friend call me today. We have known each other for 15 years. I was at her wedding to a guy from AA, who I have known for about 18 years.

She just got home from the hospital and wanted to let me know she was home. She really sounded good and up-beat and made a point of telling her so.

A burden shared is lessened. If you share with another you are only left with half. If you go to a meeting and there is a lot of members there, that is bonus.

[MajestyJo]

You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning

Love doesn't just sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; re-made all the time, made new.
—Ursula K. LeGuin

We love to be loved; we love to be held; we love to be caressed. A show of appreciation we love too. And we love to know we've been heard. The friends, the spouses, the children in our lives want the same from us. Like a garden that needs water, sun, weeding to nurture the growth, so does love need attending to. To become whole and healthy women, we need tender nurturing. And we also need to give away what we get. Those we nurture will bless our growth.

Love is dynamic, not static. It is always changing, and it always changes those it enfolds. Since coming into this program where the sharing of oneself, the open expression of love, is profoundly evident, we each have changed. And our presence has changed others. We have learned to accept love and give it. But better yet, we have learned that we deserve love.

I will look around me today at others, and I will remember, my growth and theirs depends on loving and being loved. I will reach out. I can make love new.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

[MajestyJo]

Found the reading to be very powerful. I looked out of myself for years to find love. What I came to realize when I came into recovery, and my son got caught up in his addiction, I passed a lot of my fears along to him.

I didn't know how to show and express love and the two of us are getting better now he too is in recovery yet I know he still has a problem with it. I try to remember to say, I Love You Son" when he phones. He doesn't have a phone I can call to get in touch with him. So my love is sent in prayer and hopefully, he is open to receiving it.

I heard more years ago than I care to remember, about a little boy who was asked who God was. He replied, Teacher, everyone knows, God is a feeling."

If I had to add a feeling to God. It would be love. It is unconditional, forgiving, and caring.

God is as He reveals Himself to me today. The key for me, is to keep looking for Him. When I think I KNOW who God is, I might just stop looking and listening for Him.

God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for this food. For the food and everything else in my life. He has been very good to me.

God is Good. Good is God. God is Love. Love is God.

1 John 4:18-19
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.

[MajestyJo]

~ God Knew ~



God knew there would be times
You'd need a word of cheer
Someone to praise a triumph
Or brush away a tear.
He knew you'd need to share
The joy of little things
In order to appreciate
The happiness life brings.
He knew your troubled heart
Would sometimes throb with pain
At trials and misfortunes
Or some goals you can't attain.
He knew you'd need some comfort
And loving guidance too
So, He answered the heart's great need
And sent an Angel just for you.

Someone Thought About You Today
In A Very Special Way
Someone Who Cares About You
And Is Reaching Out To Touch Your Heart
Bet You Have Someone That You Care About Also
Let Them Know That They Are In Your Thoughts
Send Them This Special Message Too!

[MajestyJo]

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

[MajestyJo]

Psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

[MajestyJo]

Romans 5:10
For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

[MajestyJo]

Like the Eagle I fly,
I soar with the clouds on High.
Wind in my feathers,
like a breeze blowing through heather.

I ride the wind with out thought or care,
wishing this feeling I could share.
The higher i soar the cord stretches thin,
I disconnect from Mother Earth, leaving my Kin.

I long to fly, to the Sun...beyond,
this earthly body leave behind with the flick of a wand.
Fly on and on to new places and worlds,
a messenger of love, a peace herald.

I reach the end of the cord feel it pull,
I look back at my home that tiny world.
The more I look the futher back I fall
Then I slam back into my body in no time at all.

As I catch my breath, taking my journey to mind.
I realise only glimpses leaving the bulk behind.
The feelings however are held deep in my heart,
Which is still soaring the heavens, never the two shall part .

~EagleShadow 2006

Originally posted at Spirit of Rain

[MajestyJo]

Matthew 18:2-6
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

We have to learn to crawl before we can walk. We need to listen and learn, not continue to think we know it all. Be like a child, walk in trust and love.

[MajestyJo]

Whatever our hands touch-
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.
As we touch we leave our identity.

Oh God, wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.

Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.

Lord, send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
"I felt your touch,"
May that one sense YOUR LOVE
Touching through ME.

[MajestyJo]

love hate
desire aversion
joy sadness
fear courage
hope despair
happiness anger
acceptance/rejection

Received this list from a friend and added the last one myself.

Feel the feelings and do it anyway.
Just because you have a feeling, doesn't mean you have act on it.
Feel it, label it, know it for what it is. Don't try to shove it away, bury it, ignore it, but allow yourself to feel so you can heal.

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

- Carl W. Buechner

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”

- lstyd

Some of my favorite recovery sayings are:

"Feel the fear and do it any way."

FEAR

- Face everythings and recover

- Flee everything and run

When I was three and my brother was two, I saw him killed and blamed myself for his death. From that time onward, I shoved down the feelings and didn't want to feel. I have no visual of this event, all I had were the words in my head, "Dougie come out of the way." I thought because he was coming to me, I killed him. What I didn't know until I learned in my 50s from my aunt, was that I had nominated myself as his caretaker the day he was born. A lot to take on 9 days before her 2nd birthday.

Make the journey from your head to your heart.

Don't take on what is not yours.

[MajestyJo]

A short time ago, a friend who is special to me and has been a big part of my recovery, called to say that she celebrated her birthday this morning. I didn't wake up in time to go, so glad she phoned me. I spoke at her 18th anniversary. I was so honoured, because she showed up as support and 2/3s of the meetings I shared my story at.

I was telling her about seeing the young fellow being hit by a car the other day, I didn't know if he was alive or dead, but he appeared to be dead. Every time I see an accident, hear a siren, I try to remember to say a prayer. He looked to be young, somewhere around 20 years old.

After talking to her, I remembered that while walking home after seeing the accident, I small brown dove walked in front of me. The Dove according to D. J. Conway, says a dove's attributes are:

Communicating with friends and loved ones who are in spirit. Spiritual messenger between words. Peace, gentleness, love.