Originally found at Silkworth.net where it is published without a clear attribution I can find;

Reason, Season, And A Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you will know exactly what to do.

Some people come into our lives and quickly go..

Some people become friends and stay awhile…

leaving beautiful footprints on our hearts…

and we are never quite the same because we have made a good friend!!!

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person or people involved; and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships, and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

When you read this, just recite the following prayer.
That’s all you have to do. There is nothing else attached.
This is the power of prayer at work.

May today there be peace within you.
May you trust God that you are exactly
where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities
that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let His presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing,
dance, and to bask in the sun.
It is there for each and every one of you.

Send this to the people in your life
and witness…

The Awesome Power of Prayer

Post from: Blisstree

Reason, Season, And A Lifetime

Delegate – no, it’s not supposed to be political.

Alternate Delegate

Area Chair

DCM

GSR

Alternate GSR

PICPC

Trustee

Regional Trustee

Trustee at Large

Non-Trustee and even a Non-Trustee Director

More mundane…

Secretary

Past Area Secretary

Treasurer

Past Area Treasurer

Then we have committees;

Archives

Convention

Corrections

Communications

Grapevine

PI/CPC

Secretary/Treasurer

Treatment Facilities

And last but not least we have this thing called

“ICYPAA”

which is pronounced “ickypa.”

We even have orientations, nominations and reports. Oh boy, do we have reports! From all those folks. Guess what most of those reports report on…

Post from: Blisstree

Important People

How many of you have seen the upside down pyramid? Do you know that AA members actually are the final voice for whatever happens in AA? Yes, that’s you!

Sadly, for me < please note, I heard this weekend that the GSR’s are the most important people in Alcoholics Anonymous. My perception of that is that we will still do anything to accomplish what we want to accomplish which includes manipulating egos to garner votes.

GSR’s have an invaluable responsibility to Alcoholics Anonymous. That responsibility is to bring the voice of AA, your voice, to a meeting such as I attended this past weekend. That still leaves you, the members, as the most important people in AA. Despite the suits and ties on the dais.

More to come…

Post from: Blisstree

The Fellowship Doesn’t Run On Coffee Alone

We get to discuss the business matters of Alcoholics Anonymous in the state of Georgia and vote on measures brought to the assembly’s attention.

“We” being folks who’s home groups have graciously voted them in as group GSR’s. An honor.

I’ll be back late Sunday and give you an idea of what we spoke about.

Post from: Blisstree

Area 16 January Assembly

Prayers in the Big Book Prior to the Stories

[page:paragraph]

12:6
For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted God. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me – and He came.

13:2
There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost.

13:4
I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others.

63:2
God, I offer myself to thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!

67:0
We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, “This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.”

68:3
We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be.

69:2
We ask God to mold our [sex] ideals and help us to live up to them.

69:3
In meditation, we ask God what we should do about each specific matter [sex harms].

70:2
We earnestly pray for the right [sex] ideal, for guidance in each questionable situation, for sanity and for the strength to do the right thing.

75:3
We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.

75:3
Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. Is our work solid so far? Are the stones properly in place? Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation? Have we tried to make mortar without sand?

76:1
If we still cling to something we will not let go [shortcomings], we ask God to help us be willing.

76:2
My Creator, I am now willing that You should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that You now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do Your bidding. Amen.

76:3
We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self- will and run the show ourselves. If we haven’t the will to do this, we ask until it comes [making amends].

79:1
Reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any lengths to find a spiritual experience, we ask that we be given strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be [making amends].

82:1
It may be that both [you & you significant other] will decide that the way of good sense and loving kindness is to let by-gones be by-gones [no direct amends]. Each might pray about it, having the other one’s happiness uppermost in mind.

83:1
So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindness and love.

84:2
When these crop up [selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear], we ask God at once to remove them.

85:1
How can I best serve Thee – Thy will (not mine) be done.

86:1
After making our (nightly) review we ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

86:2
Before we begin (meditation), we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.

86:3
[Facing indecision] Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle.

87:1
We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.

87:3
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves may times each day, “Thy will be done.”

158:2
On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything necessary.

164:2
Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.

Post from: Blisstree

Big Book Prayers

There are far more than Twelve Promises written in the Big Book “Alcoholics Anonymous.”

This is a listing of only those relating to the First Step (please, some may be a stretch – utilize, don’t analyze);

First Step Promises:

1. How many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism. (Title page).

2. Who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. (foreword 1st edition xiii)

3. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. (foreword 1st edition xiii)

4. We are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all. (foreword 1st edition xiii)

5. Our earliest printing voiced the hope -that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination (foreword 2nd edition xv)

6. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery (xvii)

7. A.A.’s had to hang together or die separately. We had to unify our Fellowship or pass off the scene.(xix)

8. Today the remarkable unity of A.A. is one of the greatest assets that our Society has.(xix)

9. It is our great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the highroad to a new freedom. (xxi)

10. …recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope. (xxii)

11. We who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind (xxiv)

12. We are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. (xxiv)

13. We work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane. (xxiv)

14. Once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules. (xxvii)

15. There are many situations which arise out of the phenomenon of craving which cause men to make the supreme sacrifice rather than continue to fight. (xxviii)

16. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes. (8:2)

17. I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. (13:5)

18. For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that. (14:6)

19. It is a design for living that works in rough going. (15:1)

20. The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty. (15:2)

21. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. (15:2)

22. I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities. Business and professional men have regained their standing. (15:2)

23. There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. (16:2)

24. Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men. (16:3)

25. …there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. (17:2)

26. Our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. (17:2)

27. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us… The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism. (17:2)

28. An illness of this sort-and we have come to believe it an illness-involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. (18:1)

29. For with it (the alcoholic illness) there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer’s. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents-anyone can increase the list. (18:1)

30. Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people’s shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. (19:4)

31. The alcoholic reacts differently from normal people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. We cannot answer the riddle. We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. (22:3)

32. The main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. (23:1)

33. At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. (24:0)

34. The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. (24:1)

35. There is a solution. (25:1)

36. We saw that it really worked in others. (25:1)

37. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. (25:1)

38. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. (25:2)

39. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living” that really works. (28:2)

40. All of us, whateverour race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. (28:3)

41. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. (30:1)

42. We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals-usually brief-were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. (30:3)

43. To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. (33:3)

44. The actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. (39:1)

45. That if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come-I would drink again. (41:2)

46. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. (42:0)

47. The program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic (42:0)

48. Most alcoholics have to be pretty badly mangled before they really commence to solve their problems. (43:1)

49. The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power. (43:3)

50. If he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face. (44:2)

51. We had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life -or else. (44:3)

52. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. (45:0)

53. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.(45:1)

[edited to bring this post into 2009]

Post from: Blisstree

First Step Promises

“The Twelve Steps As Ego Deflating Devices”

By Dr. Harry M. Tiebout – sub-titled “What Does Surrender Mean?”

“For reasons still obscure, the program and the fellowship of AA could cause a surrender, which in turn would lead to a period of no drinking. It became ever more apparent that in everyone’s psyche there existed an unconquerable ego which bitterly opposed any thought of defeat. Until that ego was somehow reduced or rendered ineffective, no likelihood of surrender could be anticipated.”

Wow – bitterly opposed any thought of defeat! Oh, that’s right, now I remember – my ex-wife once reminded me, as sober me watched My Name Is Bill W. how I had absolutely refused to watch that movie when I was drinking.

“AA, still very much in its infancy, was celebrating a third or fourth anniversary of one of the groups. The speaker immediately preceding me told in detail of the efforts of his local group – which consisted of two men – to get him to dry up and become its third member. After several months of vain efforts on their part and repeated nose dives on his, the speaker went on to say: “Finally, I got cut down to size and have been sober ever since,” a matter of some two or three years. When my turn came to speak, I used his phrase “cut down to size” as a text around which to weave my remarks. Before long, out of the corner of my eye, I became conscious of a disconcerting stare. It was coming from the previous speaker.

It was perfectly clear: He was utterly amazed that he had said anything which made sense to a psychiatrist. The incident showed that two people, one approaching the matter clinically and the other relying on his own intuitive report of what had happened to him, both came up with exactly the same observation: the need for ego reduction. It is common knowledge that a return of the full-fledged ego can happen at any time. Years of sobriety are no insurance against its resurgence. No AA’s, regardless of their veteran status, can ever relax their guard against a reviving ego.”

Years of sobriety are no insurance against its resurgence! Something I live with on a daily basis! And… something I get to watch and hear on a daily basis also…

Constant vigilance is the watchword!

‘The function of surrender in AA is now clear. It produces that stopping by causing the individual to say, “I quit. I give up on my headstrong ways. I’ve learned my lesson.” Very often for the first time in that individual’s adult career, he has encountered the necessary discipline that halts him in his headlong pace. Actually, he is lucky to have within him the capacity to surrender. It is that which differentiates him from the wild animals. And this happens because we can surrender and truly feel, “Thy will, not mine, be done.”‘

If the function of surrender in A.A. was clear then, why does it seem as if it has become a muddied topic today? When was the last time you heard anyone mention surrender in a meeting? Its been a long time for me (so I think I’ll do it today!)

“Unfortunately, that ego will return unless the individual learns to accept a disciplined way of life, which means the tendency toward ego comeback, is permanently checked.

This is not news to AA members. They have learned that a single surrender is not enough. Under the wise leadership of the AA “founding fathers” the need for continued endeavor to maintain that miracle has been steadily stressed. The Twelve Steps urge repeated inventories, not just one, and the Twelfth Step is in itself a routine reminder that one must work at preserving sobriety. Moreover, it is referred to as Twelfth Step work – which is exactly what it is. By that time, the miracle is for the other person.”

To preserve sobriety, one must work – at helping others! (Your Majesty The Baby Must Grow Up!)

Post from: Blisstree

Guard Against A Revived Ego [A Single Surrender Is Not Enough]

“How To Listen To God”

Suggestions and results…

6. TEST
When the flow of thoughts slows down, stop. Take a good look at what you have written. Not every thought we have comes from God. So we need to test our thoughts. Here is where the written record helps us to be able to look at them. a) Are these thoughts completely honest, pure, unselfish and loving? b) Are these thoughts in line with our duties to our family – to our country? c) Are these thoughts in line with our understanding of the teachings found in our spiritual literature?

7. CHECK
When in doubt and when it is important, what does another person who is living two-way prayer think about this thought or action? More light comes in through two windows than one. Someone else who also wants God’s plan for our lives may help us to see more clearly. Talk over together what you have written. Many people do this. They tell each other what guidance has come. This is the secret of unity. There are always three sides to every question – your side, my side, and the right side. Guidance shows us which is the right side – not who is right, but what is right.

8. OBEY
Carry out the thoughts that have come. You will only be sure of guidance as you go through with it. A rudder will not guide a boat until the boat is moving. As you obey, very often the results will convince you that you are on the right track.

9. BLOCKS?
“What if I don’t seem to get any definite thought?” God’s guidance is as freely available as the air we breathe. If I am not receiving thoughts when I listen, the fault is not God’s. Usually it is because there is something I will not do: Something wrong in my life that I will not face and make right A habit or indulgence I will not give up A person I will not forgive A wrong relationship in my life I will not give up A restitution I will not make Something God has already told me to do that I will not obey Check these points and be honest. Then try listening again.

10. MISTAKES
“Supposing I make a mistake and do something in the name of God that isn’t right?” Of course we make mistakes. We are humans with many faults. However, God will always honor our sincerity. He will work around and through every honest mistake we make. He will help us make it right. But, remember this! Sometimes when we do obey God, someone else may not like it or agree with it. So when there is opposition, it doesn’t always mean you have made a mistake. It can mean that the other person doesn’t want to know or to do what is right.

“Supposing I fail to do something that I have been told and the opportunity to do it passes?” There is only one thing to do. Put it right with God. Tell Him you’re sorry. Ask Him to forgive you, then accept His forgiveness and begin again. God is our Father – He is not an impersonal computer. He understands us far better than we do.

11. RESULTS?
We never know what swimming is like until we get down into the water and try. We will never know what this is like until we sincerely try it.

Every person who has tried this honestly finds that a wisdom, not their own, comes into their minds and that a Power greater than human power begins to operate in their lives. It is an endless adventure.

There is a way of life, for everyone, everywhere. Anyone can be in touch with the living God, anywhere, anytime, if we fulfill His conditions.

When man listens, God speaks.
When man obeys, God acts.
This is the law of prayer.

God’s plan for this world goes forward through the lives of ordinary people who are willing to be governed by Him.

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God” – Results

“How To Listen To God”

Specific suggestions…

With the basic elements as a background, here are specific suggestions on How to Listen to God:

1. TAKE TIME
Find some place and time where you can be alone, quiet and undisturbed. Most people have found that the early morning is the best time. Have with you some paper and pen or pencil.

2. RELAX
Sit in a comfortable position. Consciously relax all your muscles. Be loose. There is no hurry. There needs to be no strain during these minutes. God cannot get through to us if we are tense and anxious about later responsibilities.

3. TUNE IN
Open your heart to God. Either silently or aloud, just say to God in a natural way that you would like to find His plan for your life – you want His answer to the problem or situation that you are facing just now. Be definite and specific in your request.

4. LISTEN
Just be still, quiet, relaxed and open. Let your mind go “loose.” Let God do the talking. Thoughts, ideas and impressions will begin to come into your mind and heart. Be alert and aware and open to every one.

5. WRITE!
Here is the important key to the whole process. Write down everything that comes into your mind. Everything. Writing is simply a means of recording so that you can remember later. Don’t sort out or edit your thoughts at this point.

Don’t say to yourself:

• This thought isn’t important
• This is just an ordinary thought
• This can’t be guidance
• This isn’t nice
• This can’t be from God
• This is just me thinking…, etc.

Write down everything that passes through your mind:

• Names of people
• Things to do
• Things to say
• Things that are wrong and need to be made right

Write down everything:

• Good thoughts – bad thoughts
• Comfortable thoughts – uncomfortable thoughts
• “Holy” thoughts – “unholy” thoughts
• Sensible thoughts – “crazy” thoughts

Be honest! Write down everything! A thought comes quickly, and it escapes even more quickly unless it is captured and put down.

Tomorrow – the balance of the suggestions and the results…

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God” – Specific Suggestions

“How To Listen To God”

Preparations and conditions…

These are a few simple suggestions for people who are willing to make an experiment. You can discover for yourself the most important and practical thing any human being can ever learn – how to be in touch with God. All that is needed is the willingness to try it honestly. Every person who has done this consistently and sincerely has found that it really works.

Before you begin, look over these fundamental points. They are true and are based on the experience of thousands of people.

1. God is alive. He always has been and He always will be.
2. God knows everything.
3. God can do anything.
4. God can be everywhere – all at the same time. (These are the important differences between God and us human beings).
5. God is invisible – we can’t see Him or touch Him – but, God is here. He is with you now. He is beside you. He surrounds you. He fills the room or the whole place where you are right now. He is in you now. He is in your heart.
6. God cares very much for you. He is interested in you. He has a plan for your life. He has an answer for every need and problem you face.
7. God will tell you all that you need to know. He will not always tell you all that you want to know.
8. God will help you do anything that He asks you to do.
9. Anyone can be in touch with God, anywhere and at any time, if the conditions are obeyed.

These are the conditions:

* To be quiet and still
* To listen
* To be honest about every thought that comes
* To test the thoughts to be sure that they come from God
* To obey

Next will be specific suggestions.

Post from: Blisstree

“How To Listen To God”