![]() I believe that all sacrifice and all suffering is of value to me. Do I have real fellowship with other people and with God? A sober life is a happy life, because by giving up drinking we’ve got rid of our loneliness and remorse. When you come into A.A., you begin to get right with other people and with God. ![]() As a result, you have that terrible remorse. You know you’re not living the way God wants you to. No matter how you were brought up, no matter what your religion is, no matter if you say you believe in God, nevertheless you build up a wall between you and God by your drinking. Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecoveryĭrinking cuts you off from God. Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included? The more one analyzes the Lord’s Prayer, the more wonderful its construction is seen to be.Īfter that manner therefore pray ye. The seven clauses are put together with the utmost care, in perfect order and sequence, and they contain everything that is necessary for the nourishment of the soul. Seven symbolizes individual completeness, the perfection of the soul, just as the number twelve in the same convention stands for corporate completeness. This is very characteristic of the Oriental tradition. The first thing that we notice is that the Prayer naturally falls into seven clauses. The mere acquisition of fresh knowledge received intellectually makes no change in the soul. It is designed with the utmost care for the specific purpose so that those who use it regularly, with understanding, will experience a real change of soul. The Great Prayer is a compact formula for the development of the soul. Everyone who is seeking to follow along the Way that Jesus led, should pray the Lord’s prayer intelligently every day. The Lord’s Prayer is the most important of all the Christian documents. “Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.” “We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion.” Sometimes this was a tedious process: we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.” “Besides a seeming inability to accept much on faith, we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice.” “It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. “Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.” “We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that power, which is God.” ![]() “It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window.” “God, please set aside everything I think I know about myself, the twelve steps, this book, the meetings, my disease, and you, God, so I may have an open mind and a new experience with all these things, please let me see the truth.”Īlthough the set aside prayer that we use is not found as we say it in the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous” here are some references to it: My maternal grandmother, herself a deeply religious woman who lived with us, helped raise me and was a living example of unconditional love.īIG BOOK - Alcoholics Anonymous - HE LIVED ONLY TO DRINK - p. There was caring and togetherness among us. They were both champions of community outreach and well respected. My parents were also educators my father was principal of the school I attended, and my mother taught there. My father was a minister, and I attended his church every Sunday with the rest of the family and, like them, was very active in religious work. We were from a long Southern Missionary Baptist tradition. To our collective memory there was no drinking on either side of the family. On looking back at my life, I can’t see anything that would have warned me or my family of the devastation that alcoholism had in store for us. It happened to me and this is what I did about it.'” “I had been preached to, analyzed, cursed, and counseled, but no one had ever said, ‘I identify with what’s going on with you.
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