Twenty-Four Hours A Day-May 30th

[Caressa2]

You are reading from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day - Hardcover (24 Hours).


A.A. Thought for the Day

I am part of A.A., one among many, but I am one. I need the A.A. principles for the development of the buried life within me. A.A. may be human in its organization, but it is Divine in its purpose. The purpose is to point me toward God and a better life. Participating in the privilege of the movement, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load, not grudgingly but joyfully. To the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, A.A. fails. To the extent that I succeed, A.A. succeeds. Do I accept this as my A.A. credo?

Meditation for the Day

"Praise the Lord." What does praising God mean? It means being grateful for all the wonderful things in the universe and for all the blessings in your life. So praise God by being grateful and humble. Praise of this kind has more power to vanquish evil than has mere resignation. The truly grateful and humble per son, who is always praising God, is not tempted to do wrong. You will have a feeling of security be cause you know that fundamentally all is well. So look up to God and praise Him.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be grateful for all my blessings. I pray that I may be humble because I know that I do not deserve them.

[gwen]

"I pray that I may be grateful for all my blessings. I pray that I may be humble because I know that I do not deserve them."

In the Prayer for the Day, the definition of humility saddened me. The belief that "I do not deserve God's blessings" is one that seems to have blocked me from trusting God. If God judges the deserving and the un-deserving (thinking critically as my father might have), then don't I have to be always afraid of his removing blessings because I've disappointed him? My understanding of humility is evolving as my trust in Him grows.

I did a little literature search to help me understand my discomfort. Bill W. wrestles with providing a definition of humility in the 12&12. To him, humility seems to be mostly about developing a reliance on God rather than self-will.

In Step Seven, he says, "As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basic ingredient of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing."

In Step Two, he describes those of us who relied on our intellect rather than God, until people in AA "helped us to get down to our right size. By their example, they showed us that humility and intellect could be compatible, provided we placed humility first. When we began to do that, we received the gift of faith, a faith which works."

Seeking to develop the quality of humility within myself also means that I must turn over to God the thousands of judgmental thoughts that fly out of my mind toward others (and myself). To judge myself as unworthy of His blessings seems no more virtuous than judging others as being unworthy of my compassion. It seems to all arise from the same judgmental spirit that can separate me from God, from my True Self, and from my fellow human beings.

We are all guests at His table. Each brings what he or she can. Each suffers. None of us "deserves" His spiritual food more than another, but we are all invited to partake. The sustenance He offers will never run out; there is enough for everyone.

God, lift my judgments from my eyes, so that I may truly see the beauty that you have bestowed everywhere.

Love,

Gwen