TRUSTED SERVANTS

 God grant me the Serenity

to accept the things

I cannot change;

Courage to change

the things I can;

and Wisdom

to know the difference.

Thy will, not mine, be done.

 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*

 

March 29, 2024

 

TRUSTED SERVANTS

 

They are servants.

Theirs is the sometimes-thankless

privilege of doing the group’s chores.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 134

 

In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an encounter between his principle character and an old man busily at work planting a tree. “What is it that you are doing?” Zorba asks.

 The old man replies: “You can see very well what I am doing, my son, I’m planting a tree.” “But why plant a tree,”

 Zorba asks, “if you won’t be able to see it bear fruit?”

And the old man answers:

“I, my son, live as though I were never going to die.”

The response brings a faint smile to Zorba’s lips

and, as he walks away,

 he exclaims with a note of irony:

 “How strange —

 I live as though I were going to die tomorrow!”

As a member of Alcoholics Anonymous,

I have found that the Third Legacy

is a fertile soil in which to plant the tree of my sobriety.

The fruits I harvest are wonderful:

peace, security, understanding

and twenty-four hours of eternal fulfillment;

and with the soundness of mind to listen

to the voice of my conscience when,

 in silence, it gently speaks to me, saying:

 You must let go in service.

 There are others who must plant the harvest.

 

*****************************************************

TOWARD HONESTY

 

The perverse wish to hide

 a bad motive underneath a good one

permeates human affairs from top to bottom.

This subtle and elusive kind of self-righteousness

can underlie the smallest act or thought.

Learning daily to spot, admit,

and correct these flaws

 is the essence of character-building and good living.

The deception of others is nearly always

rooted in the deception of ourselves.

Somehow, being alone with God doesn't seem

as embarrassing as facing up to another person.

 Until we actually sit down and talk

aloud about what we have so long hidden,

 our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical.

When we are honest with another person,

 it confirms that we have been honest

with ourselves and with God.

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 94-95

2. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961

3. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 60

 

**********

"Spiritual Awakenings

often come in Rude Awakenings,

so, you better pay attention!"

 

***************

Where there is charity and wisdom,

there is neither fear nor ignorance.

 

Where there is patience and humility,

there is neither anger nor vexation.

Where there is poverty and joy,

there is neither greed nor avarice.

Where there is peace and meditation,

there is neither anxiety nor doubt.

~~ Saint Francis of Assisi

 

****************************************************

How can I believe in a Higher Power?

I was taught that God is just an idea

that weak people use as a crutch.

--Alcoholics Anonymous member

 

After we admit how serious our addiction is,

we have to face our fear and sadness.

Without the help of a Higher Power, we are hopeless.

That's why we each must find a Higher Power

that can give us the help we need.

Some of us don't like Step Two

because we think it asks us to believe

in somebody else's idea of God. It doesn't.

It doesn't even ask us to believe in our own idea of God.

The most important thing is to find a Higher Power –

not necessarily the Highest Power – to help us stay sober,

one that can teach us to succeed in sobriety

and one that we trust.

We don't have to understand this Higher Power.

We just have to believe that it works.

 

Prayer for the Day

 

Higher Power, I ask You to come into my life

and show me how to trust and understand You.

 

Today's Action

 

Today I will make a list

of three people or things

that know more about recovery than I do.

I will circle the one I trust the most.

 

***************************************************

The most important thing

we are doing right now

is thinking nice thoughts.

--Jim and Marie Burns

 

Just thinking nice thoughts sounds so simplistic, doesn't it! Surely there is more in life to contemplate than that.

But the power of nice thoughts,

 the impact just such a simple decision

 can have on our lives and the lives

of everyone around us, is awesome.

Having nice thoughts and only nice thoughts

 is a significant departure for most of us.

Far more commonly we quietly or vocally

judged every man, woman, and child in our presence.

 Stopping ourselves from judging,

 in fact, stopping a judgment in its tracks,

will reveal how swamped our thinking

has been by the critical, mean-spirited side of us.

Seldom do we cultivate a quiet, peaceful mind.

Seemingly out of control,

our minds race from one idea, one judgment,

 and one negative opinion to another one

 of equal harm to ourselves

and the entire human community.

Perhaps we didn't realize

 that every thought we harbor has an impact,

whether it's voiced aloud or not.

We can't lay the blame for this violent,

mean world solely on others.

We've had a part in it, too.

Every time we favor a nasty thought

rather than a nice thought,

we add to the turmoil around us.

The good news is that

we can choose between the two at will.

 

I will add to the tenor of the world today

by my thoughts.

I pray that I may choose them carefully.