It is only by accepting and solving our problems that we can begin to get right with ourselves and with the world around us, and with Him who presides over us all.
Understanding is the key to right principles and attitudes, and right action is the key to good living; therefore, the joy of living is the theme of AA's Twelfth Step.
-- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 125
Joy is in knowing there is an answer.
I always thought honesty had something to do with telling other people the truth.
It was explained that it had to do first with telling myself the truth.
I spent most of my life worrying about myself, thinking that I was unwanted, that I was unloved.
I've learned ... that the more I worry about me loving you, and the less I worry about you loving me, the happier I'll be.
-- Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 218
Sometimes we forget the reallyimportant things in life.
Last week, I took my grand-children to a restaurant.
My six-year-old grand-son asked if he could say grace.
As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Nana gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"
Hearing this, my grand-son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"
As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job, and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table.
He winked at my grand-son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."
"Really?" my grand-son asked.
"Cross my heart," the man replied.
Then, in a theatrical whisper, he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."
Naturally, I bought my grand-children ice cream at the end of the meal. My grand-son stared at his for a moment, and then did something I will remember the rest of my life.
He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman.
With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes; and my soul is good already."
The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own self-hood (I do not say the body, because the body is God's temple and therefore it is holy), and enter by love into union with the Love Who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls. -- Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation
~ #James B-)
Just remembering that our guardian angels are always there is a good way to keep ourselves on the right path. We tend to behave better when we know someone's watching. And our angels are always watching.
— from Angels of God
I have often wondered why it is that Conservatives are called the "right" and Liberals are called the "left."
By chance I stumbled upon this verse in the Bible:
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)
Thus sayeth the Lord. Amen.
Can't get any simpler than that.
It is not always the quantity of good things you do,
it is also the quality that counts. . .
Above all, take it one day at a time.
-- As Bill Sees It, p. 11
Just for today, I choose not to drink.
O D A A T = One Day At A Time.
