A Prayer & Some Thoughts - March

[bluidkiti]

March 31


Prayer For Patience

God, teach us what it means to have faith in silence.
When we face trials that are beyond our understanding, help us to find peace.
Help me be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.
You set all things in accordance to your time.
Remind us to wait patiently, and find peace in your plan.

~ Dick Woodward

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a Thought

When we came into A.A.

The first thing we did was to admit that we couldn't do anything about our drinking. We admitted that alcohol had destroyed our lives and that we were helpless against it. We never could decide whether or not to take a drink. We always took the drink. And since we couldn't do anything about it ourselves, we put our whole drink problem into the hands of God. We turned the whole thing over to that Power greater than ourselves. And we have nothing more to do about it, except to trust God to take care of the problem for us.

So ............

Have I done this honestly and fully?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a Contemplation

People-Pleasing

Have you ever been around people-pleasers? Being around someone who is turned inside out to please another is often irritating and anxiety- producing. People-pleasing is a behavior we may have adapted to survive in our family. We may not have been able to get the love and attention we deserved.

People-pleasing can be overt or covert. We may run around fussing over others, chattering a mile a minute when what we are really saying is, "I hope I'm pleasing you." Or, we may be more covert, quietly going through life making important decisions based on pleasing others.

Taking other people's wants and needs into consideration is an important part of our relationships. We have responsibilities to friends and family and employers. We have a strong inner responsibility to be loving and caring. But, people-pleasing backfires. Not only do others get annoyed with us, we often get annoyed when our efforts to please do not work as we planned. The most comfortable people to be around are those who are considerate of others but ultimately please themselves.

I need to work through my fears and begin to please myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freedom HOW

The A.A. members who sponsored me told me in the beginning that I would not only find a way to live without having a drink, but that I would find a way to live without wanting to drink, if I would do these simple things. They said if you want to know how this program works, take the first word of your question-- the "H" is for honesty, the "O" is for open-mindedness, and the "W" is for willingness; these our Big Book calls the essentials of recovery. They suggested that I study the A.A. book and try to take the Twelve Steps according to the explanation in the book, for it was their opinion that the application of these principles in our daily lives will get us sober and keep us sober. I believe this, and I believe too that it is equally impossible to practice these principles to the best of our ability, a day at a time, and still drink, for I don't think the two things are compatible.

Alcoholics Anonymous. 4th Edition, Pages 549-550

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a Quote

“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in your mind.” ~ David G. Allen