CRYING FOR THE MOON

  

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^*~*~*~*~*

 

April 4, 2023

 

CRYING FOR THE MOON

 

“This very real feeling of inferiority

is magnified by his childish sensitivity

and it is this state of affairs

which generates in him

that insatiable, abnormal craving

for self-approval and success

in the eyes of the world.

Still a child, he cries for the moon.

And the moon, it seems, won’t have him!”

LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 102

 

While drinking I seemed to vacillate

between feeling totally invisible

and believing I was the center of the universe.

Searching for that elusive balance between the two

has become a major part of my recovery.

The moon I constantly cried for is,

in sobriety, rarely full;

it shows me instead its many other phases,

and there are lessons in them all.

True learning has often followed an eclipse,

a time of darkness,

but with each cycle of my recovery,

the light grows stronger and my vision is clearer.

 

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

COURAGE AND PRUDENCE

 

When fear persisted, we knew it for what it was,

and we became able to handle it.

We began to see each adversity

as a God-given opportunity

to develop the kind of courage

which is born of humility,

rather than of bravado.

Prudence is a workable middle ground,

a channel of clear sailing

between the obstacles of fear on the one side

and of recklessness on the other.

Prudence in practice creates a definite climate,

the only climate in which harmony,

effectiveness, and consistent spiritual progress

can be achieved.

"Prudence is rational concern without worry."

1. Grapevine, January 1962

2. Twelve Concepts, p. 62

3. Talk, 1966

 

**********

"I'm not in the results business.

I'm in the efforts business.

S.L.I.P. = Sobriety Lost Its Priority"

 

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

Heard at AA Meeting

 

"Those who abandon their dreams

will discourage yours"

 

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

It is wealth to be content.

—Lao-tzu

 

On the evening of the first day of spring,

 a woman gave her husband

a bright red geranium in a clay pot.

 To celebrate, he placed it on the windowsill,

and together they marveled at the delicate petals.

In the harsher light of morning, though,

 the man frowned at the geranium

 and said to his wife,

"How shabby it makes the sofa look."

They spent the day at the furniture store

and came home with a new couch,

 blue with red flowers, like the geranium.

They placed the couch in front of the windowsill

 and admired together its grace

and line and fashionable upholstery.

But the next morning,

 the man frowned at the couch and said,

 "How shabby it makes the carpet look."

Soon they had a lavish new carpet,

which led to new curtains, lamps, and chairs.

 When the room was completely redone,

 they set the geranium back in the window

 and surveyed the finest room in the neighborhood.

 The man frowned. "The geranium," he said,

 "it's out of place. It will have to go."

 

Will I be able to appreciate

life's simple pleasures today?

 

**********

"You don't have to see

the whole staircase at once,

just the first step, one step at a time."