THE TRICK IS TO LISTEN AFTER HAVING YOUR SAY –
“As for prayer and
meditation, I learned
that prayer … could be
simply talking to God [or
my HP].” “[And] all medita-
tion was to listen to God –
just being quiet and
clearing my mind
… .” (Paths to Re-
covery, p. 116)
WE ARE ONE – “NA is like a lifeboat in a sea of isolation, hopelessness and destructive chaos.” “By humbling ourselves and asking for help, we can get through the toughest of times. I can’t, we can!” (The Basic Text, p. 98)
FLAME ON –
“It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition [11] is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place … . In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.” (12 & 12, p. 183)
“Can we accept poverty, sickness, loneliness, and bereavement with courage and serenity? Can we steadfastly content ourselves with the humbler, yet sometimes more durable, satisfactions when the brighter, more glittering achievements are denied us?” (12 & 12, p. 52)
WOUNDS ACTUALIZE “A GRADUAL AWAKENING” – “Practicing the Eleventh Step involves a daily discipline of prayer and meditation.” “Knowledge of our Higher Power’s will does not usually come in a momentary blinding flash, but in a gradual awakening brought about by the continued practice of prayer and meditation.” (It Works, How & Why p. 81)
“Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, ‘Why do you not practice what you preach?’ ”
– Saint Jerome (347 AD – 419 AD) Bible translator
SEEING THE NAKED TRUTH THRU NEW, LOVING EYES – “How is it that two people can observe the same difficult situation, but one person is upset about it, and other isn’t?” “If each morning we ask the Creator to allow us to see with His understanding and with His love, we will open a new way of ‘seeing’. This eye of the heart is a free gift given to us if we ask for it in prayer each day.” (White Bison 2-13-10)
“Just pray for a tough hide and a tender heart.”
– Ruth Graham (1920 – 2007) U.S. author and wife of Rev. Billy Graham on new lessons
CALL IT A “SPIRIT OR AN ENERGY” OR KINDNESS … “Many of us were suspicious and skeptical because of disappointments that we have had with religion.” “Agnostics and atheists sometimes start by just talking to ‘whatever’s there.’ There is a spirit or an energy that can be felt in the meetings. This is sometimes the newcomer’s first concept of a Higher Power.” (The Basic Text. p. 94)
LISTEN CAREFULLY AND YOUR TRUTH WILL SPEAK – “Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis, it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.” (The Big Book, p. 55)