“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)
FAITH DRAWN FROM THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER – “We admit that our lives have been unmanageable, but sometimes we have a problem admitting our need for help. Our own self-will leads to many problems in our recovery.” “Just for today I will have faith in someone in NA who believes in me … .” (The Basic Text. p. 93) on the Sun
“Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.”
– Thomas A. Edison (1847 – 1931) U.S. inventor
“Love is always
bestowed as a gift
– freely, willingly and
without expectation.
We don’t love to be
loved; we love
to love.” – Leo “Dr. Love” Buscaglia U.S. Author (1924 – 1998) on acceptance of love
“The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.”
– George Eliot (1819 – 1880) British novelist
AA.MAKING WAY FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH – ” … we go beyond merely asking for the power to live up to God’s [our HP’s]* plan for our own lives. We begin to seek out ways to be of service, to make a difference in the [lives] of another … .” (It Works, How & Why, p. 81)