Oh Boy! I needed this meeting!
That’s what I thought as we read the first half of the 12th step at the 12 & 12 meeting.
These past few weeks have filled with hard news— not just of the world and our nation — but several friends and some family have had the surfings knocked out of them and I can’t solve a blinking one of their problems.
And AGE is creating some interesting challenges for moi!
Picking up, mercifully, wasn’t on my radar — but it dawned on me, as we read, neither was working Step 12!
Progress NOT Perfection
“Practicing these principles” in all my affairs can be a work-out —especially if I forget the spiritual awakening I have had by God’ s grace through faith.
Troubles, real and imagined, can mess with my mind and my emotional balance. And I know were that can lead— no place worth going!
[When] perhaps life, as it has a way of doing, suddenly hands us a great lump that we can’t begin to swallow, let alone digest . . . What then? . . . Can we transform these calamities into assets, sources of growth and comfort to ourselves and those around us? . . . [We] surely have a chance . . . if we are willing to receive that grace of God which can sustain and strengthen us in any catastrophe. ( 12 & 12, p. 114)
But sometimes a serendipitous experience reminds me of the principles I need to practice in all my affairs:
acceptance, and
gratitude, plus
faith that an infinite and personal God hasn’t resigned and put me in charge.
Case in Point:
I was hunting for my bedroom slippers, and as I bent low to check under the bed — I was on one knee — and the thought came: why not just kneel and thank God and ask His guidance?
You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.– John Bunyan
It worked. I found my slippers and I received some peace mind . . . to do the next thing.
Never trust to prayer without using every means in your power, and never use the means without trusting in prayer. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Last Days in Cloudland,” Oldtown Folks, 1869
The challenges don’t stop coming because I stopped drinking. They just mean still more opportunities for spiritual development (12 & 12, p. 114)
So, having prayed, I got myself to a meeting — and heard of experiences, strength and hope that keeps me practicing, just for today.
How goes it with you, friend?
Love in Christ,
Sober and Grateful
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