The Unspoken Meaning of THE MESSAGE We Share So Freely – Step 12 begins
The Message – “One word Frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”
Sophocles (496 BC – 406 BC) Greek playwright of 123 plays including Oedipus Rex
The Message – “One word Frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”
Sophocles (496 BC – 406 BC) Greek playwright of 123 plays including Oedipus Rex
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)
“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)
“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