“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)
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)
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)
“Far more indispensable than food for the physical body is spiritual nourishment for the soul. One can do without food for a considerable time, but a man of the spirit cannot exist for a single second without spiritual nourishment.” – Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) India Independence Movement Leader from British rule (on prayer and meditation)
LIFE’S PARADOX OF THE IDEAL –
“While the circum-
stances of our lives
may not change, the
way we deal with those
circumstances does.” “[W]e
cease to struggle against life
on life’s terms. Striving to
maintain and build on our
surrender, we are better
able to live and enjoy
life in the moment.”
(It Works, How &
Why, p. 23)
RECKLESS REBELLION REVEALS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR EGO –
“Rebellion is a character defect that spoils us here. We need not lose faith when we become rebellious.” “Eventually faith, humility and acceptance replace pride and rebellion.” (The Basic Text, p. 35)
“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.”
– Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) French existentialist