Prayers & Meditations

[majestyjo]

MountainWings A MountainWings Moment 

#4260 Wings Over The Mountains of Life 

If You Could Kick... 

=========== 

If you could kick the posterior of the person who has hurt you the most, 

...you wouldn’t be able to sit down for six weeks. 

~John Hagee~ 

NOTE: My thought was, "I am glad I can't reach my own behind." 

April 2005

[majestyjo]

You're An Angel To Me



You're always finding reasons
to make someone feel a part
of all the love and gentleness
you carry in your heart.

And, like a special Angel,
you do such caring things
that you deserve to have
your very own Angel wings!

- Author Unknown

[majestyjo]

To God be the Glory. It is the God of your understanding, not the God everyone told you about. I had to go on a spiritual quest, to find out who my God was to me. Whether it is a religious God, good orderly direction, a group of drunks and drug addicts, make your God personal. For me, God was an old tape. I was raised in the Gospel Halls, and it didn`t stop me from becoming an alcoholic or an addict. I was put on Valium at 16. I stole a glass of wine at 10 years old and remember trying to make a gulp look like a sip. The more I used, the farther away I got from God.



I came back to my God with a new awareness and a new understanding.

[majestyjo]

Found this on my site "Soundness of Mind."

I have nothing to fear:

Life is a winding road.

You never know which way to go.

Because when you least expect it, 

life will deliver a fork in the road.

You think about it, do your best,

and let God take care of the rest.

With good friends and family, 

the choice is clear.

Knowing you're there to guide me, 

I have no fear!

Sharing what was shared w/me ~~

source not known!

Try to avoid looking forward or backward 

but "Keep Looking Upward"

Keep your face to the sunshine &

you cannot see the shadows!

Helen Keller

[majestyjo]

Many times I've lain awake
A prayer on every breath I take
For eyes to see what I must see
For ears to hear what I must hear
For words to say what needs to be said
So they will come and have no fear
Embracing the light, Shadows disappear.

StarChild61 12/27/05

Posted on my group The Angel of Health

[majestyjo]

A rerun but a good reminder. Each day is a new day. Each day is an opportunity to get honest, open my mind, and a willingness to stay clean and sober.





Don't be fooled by me.

Don't be fooled by the face I wear.

For I wear a mask, a thousand masks,

masks that I'm afraid to take off,

and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,

but don't be fooled.

for God's sake don't be fooled.

I give you the impression that I'm secure,

that all is sunny and unruffled with me,

within as well as without,

that confidence is my name and coolness my game,

that the water's calm and I'm in command,

and that I need no one.

But don't believe me.

My surface may seem smoth but my surface is my mask,

ever-varying and ever-concealing.

Beneath lies no complacence.

Beneath lies confusion and fear and aloneness.

But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.



I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed.

that's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,

a nonchalance sophisticated facade,

to help me pretend,

to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation.

My only hope and I know it.

Tha is, if it's follwed by acceptance,

if it's followed by love.

It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,

from my own self-built prision walls,

from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.

It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself,

that I'm really worth something.

I don't tell you this. I don' dare. I afraid to.

I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance, will not be followed by love.

I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.

I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing, that I'm just no good,

and that you will see this and reject me.



So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,

with a facade of assurance without

and a trembling child within.

So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,

and my life becomes a front.

I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.

I tell you everything that's really nothing,

and nothing of what's everything,

of what's crying within me.

so when I'm going through my routine,

do not be fooled by what I'm saying.

Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,

what I'd like to be able to say,

what for survival I need to say,

but what I can't say.



I don't like to hide.

I don't like to play superficial phony games.

I want to stop playing them.

I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me,

but youve got to help me.

You've got to hold out your hand

even when that's the last thing I seem to want.

Only you can wipe away from my eyes the blank stare of the breathing dead.

Only you can call me into aliveness.

Each time you're kind and gentle and encouraging,

each time you try to understand because you really care,

my heart begins to grow wings,

very small wings,

very feeble wings,

but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling

you can breathe life into me.

I want you to know that.



I want you to know how important you are to me,

how you can be a creator - a honest-to-God creator -

of the person that is me

if you choose to.

You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,

you alone can remove my mask,

you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic and uncertainty, from my lonely prison,

if you choose to.

Please choose to. Do not pass me by.

It will not be easy for you.



A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls,

The nearer you approach to me

the blinder I may strike back.

It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man,

often I am irrational.

I fight against the very thing that I cry out for.

But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls,

and in this lies my hope.

Please try to beat down these walls

with firm hands

but with gentle hands

for a child is very sensitive.



Who am I, you may wonder?

I am someone you know very well.

for I am every man you meet

and I am every woman you meet.



- Charles C. Finn

[majestyjo]

Thank You!



Dear God:

I want to thank you for what you have already done.

I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards.

I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better,

I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me,

I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears.

I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves.

I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet,

I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job,

I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief.

I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed,

I am thanking you right now.

I am thanking you because I am alive.

I am thanking you because I made it through the day's difficulties.

I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles.

I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better.

I am thanking you because, Father, you have not given up on me.

God is good, all the time; and all the time, God is Good!

THANK HIM!

[majestyjo]

What is the greatest gift you'll ever give...or receive? It just might surprise you!


Three minute movie:

www.eaglesneedapush.com/?cm_m...ENPmovieWScons

[majestyjo]

There's Sunshine In A Smile

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain,
Laughter and pleasure, tear-drops and pain;
All days can't be bright, but it's certainly true,
There was never a cloud the sun didn't shine through.
So just keep on smiling whatever betide you,
Secure in the knowledge God is always beside you.
And you'll find when you smile your day will be brighter
and all your burdens will seem so much lighter.
For each time you smile you will find it is true
SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE will smile back at YOU!
And nothing on earth Can make life more worthwhile
than the sunshine and warmth of a BEAUTIFUL SMILE

- - Helen Steiner Rice

[majestyjo]

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Matthew 5:41).

As followers of Christ, we are called to a life of joyful obedience. We are called to love others as we love ourselves. We are called to serve one another without complaint. We are called - not to keep an account of wrongs against us - but to forgive and "go the extra mile," even for those we consider enemies.


An Excerpt from The Second Mile
by Paula Fox

What is the Second Mile?

We often hear the phrase "going the Second Mile" in our modern conversation, but it actually has its roots in first-century Palestine.

During Bible times, the Romans had conquered much of the known world and ruled with an iron hand. By Roman law, a Roman soldier could compel a subject of one of the conquered lands to carry his backpack, or "load," for him one mile, but only one mile. The Israelites resented the oppressive rule of the Roman occupation and would obey the law by going one mile, but not one step more.


The Basic Law

The Hebrew people also followed many religious laws that were based on the Ten Commandments and other instructions the Lord had given them. To these laws, they added many of their own cultural rules and rituals. The most pious religious leaders lived according to the full letter of the law and were highly critical of those who did not. They did exactly what was mandated by law . . . going the First Mile. What they failed to understand was the underlying spirit of the law . . . the Second Mile.

When Jesus spoke to His followers in the Sermon on the Mount, He said to them, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Matthew 5:41 NIV). He was using an illustration that was familiar to the people of His time. They were very aware of the Roman law requiring them to go one mile, and they resented it deeply. His suggestion that they should not only obey the law, but go even further and do it cheerfully, must have been met with shock and resistance. The Romans certainly did not deserve it!


The Higher Law

The Second Mile represents a much higher law - the law of kindness, generosity and love. Following the Lord means following His ways, which are much different than our own. He said, "My thoughts and my ways are not like yours. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours" (Isaiah 55:8-9 CEV).

Going the Second Mile means living above the norm, treating people with kindness and respect regardless of what they deserve. It is not enough to simply do what is required. In order to find joy and victory in our lives, we must give generously of ourselves beyond what is expected of us.

From Inspired Faith

Are you willing to go the second mile?

[majestyjo]

Morning Thoughts

On awakening, let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced fro self-pity and from dishonest or self-seeking motives. Free of these, we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be on a higher plane when our thinking begins to be cleared of wrong motives.

If we have to determine which of two coures to take, we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought, or a decision. Then we relax and take it easy, and we are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.

We usually conclude our meditation with prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, asking especially for freedom from damaging self-will.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 86, 87 From: As Bill Sees It

[majestyjo]

Humility asks us to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to remain teachable (The Wolf means Teacher), and to admit we don't know it all and open to knew ideas, concepts, and thoughts. Our disease is an addiction, that allows back into our lives, and we allow it back into our thoughts to take us back to our addiction, instead of giving thanks to the Creator for all His Blessings.



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humility

[majestyjo]

Grace

The grace of God has prepared for me a way of life that is altogether good.

The grace of God is not something that we must earn by making sacrifices or doing penance. It is a free, wholesome, impartial gift from God that none of us can escape. Even the most forsaken soul may cherish the hope of infinite grace.

The grace of God is more than mercy. It is complete forgiveness and full, unbounded love. It offers redemption from unholy thinking and living to every person who will accept it. Through grace, God reveals the true nature of the Divine within each person.

Abiding under divine grace, you are spiritually secure and your steady, unimpeded progress into the kingdom of perfection and all good is assured. The grace of God opens to you the swift, glorious, positive way of Truth.
For by grace have ye been saved … it is the gift of God.—Ephesians 2:8

Daily Word

Grace is what kept me in recovery. Many times I have said that something had my name on it. In reality, JoAnne means God's Gracious Gift.

I looked back on my life and saw how He had worked in my life and brought me to the program. I should have or could have been dead.

The best we can do for our loved ones is to live in a way that they can see the change within us and want it for themselves. We can't help anyone who doesn't want help, yet we can help by prayer and meditation and walking our talk so others may see.

Pray and ask that their God give them the Grace that they need to get them into recovery.

[majestyjo]

The Meaning of Peace

=================






There was once a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures, but there were only two that he really liked, and he had to choose between them.



One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.



The second picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.



But when the king looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest....a perfect picture of peace.



Which of the pictures won the prize?



The king chose the second picture.



Do you know why?



"Because," explained the king, "Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.



Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."



That is the REAL meaning of peace.



~Author Unknown~

[majestyjo]

Think every morning when the sun peeps through
The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
How jubilant the happy birds renew
Their old melodious madrigals of love,
And when you think of this, remember too
'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

[majestyjo]

In Step Three, we are asked to make a decision to put our life into our God's care. That doesn't mean we sit back and let Him do it for us. It means we turned our day over, and we await the Good Orderly Direction we need for that day, to stay clean and sober.

We are in God's Care, so that doesn't mean we barrel along and do things we always did, even if it is comfortable, we need to be open to change.

The Divine Orderly Good that I like to call it, is there, all I have to do is identify it, accept it for what it is, and make a decision as to whether I will accept or reject it.

I will try to remember that there is a purpose for everything in life.

In God's Care by Karen Casey

Please note that some posts may be duplicates. I just share what speaks to me in today.

[majestyjo]

God is Everywhere

One of my bygone recollections, 

As I recall the days of yore. 

Is the little house, behind the house, 

With the crescent over the door. 

'Twas a place to sit and ponder 

With your head bowed down low; 

Knowing that you wouldn't be there, 

If you didn't have to go. 

Ours was a three-holer, 

With a size for every one. 

You left there feeling better, 

After your usual job was done. 

You had to make these frequent trips, 

Whether snow, rain, sleet, or fog, 

To the little house where you usually 

Found the Sears-Roebuck catalogue. 

Oft times in dead of winter, 

The seat was covered with snow. 

'Twas then with much reluctance, 

To the little house you'd go. 

With a swish you'd clear the seat, 

Bend low, with dreadful fear. 

You'd blink your eyes and grit your teeth 

As you settled on your rear. 

I recall the day Granddad, 

Who stayed with us one summer, 

Made a trip to the shanty 

Which proved to be a hummer. 

'Twas the same day my Dad 

Finished painting the kitchen green. 

He'd just cleaned up the mess he's made 

With rags and gasoline. 

He tossed the rags in the shanty hole 

And went on his usual way, 

Not knowing that by doing so, 

He would eventually rue the day. 

Now Granddad had an urgent call, 

I never will forget! 

This trip he made to the little house 

Lingers in my memory yet. 

He sat down on the shanty seat, 

With both feet on the floor. 

Then filled his pipe with tobacco 

And struck a match on the outhouse door. 

After the Tobacco began to glow, 

He slowly raised his rear: 

Tossed flaming match in the open hole, 

With not a sign of fear. 

The Blast that followed, I am sure, 

Was heard for miles around; 

And left poor grandpa 

Just sitting on the ground. 

The smoldering pipe was still in his mouth, 

His suspenders he held tight; 

The celebrated three-holer 

Was blown clear out of sight. 

When we asked him what had happened, 

His answer I'll never forget. 

He thought it must be something 

That he had recently et! 

Next day we had a new one, 

Which my Dad built with ease. 

With a sign on the entrance door 

Which read: No Smoking, Please! 

Now that's the end of the story, 

With memories of long ago, 

Of the little house behind the house 

Where we went when we had to go! 

Received from my friend Carey. I was one of the lucky ones, I got to experience this. In today, it is more modern but it does help when you need quiet time in the midst of the 'busy' of today.



God is everywhere!



I have a direct line on a mobile phone!



This reminds me of what my sponsor said in early recovery. Stop looking up, start looking in.



Everywhere you go you take with you. Every where you go, God is with you.



It is my strong belief that when I go to a meeting, I am visiting a God Village.



Many times when I have had a healing or a change in my life, a monarch butterfly appeared. I was given gifts by friends in recovery at my anniversaries in the shape of a butterfly because I was so sick when I got here, and the person that was, is no more. I still have issues today, but even with my pain, I am not that lost soul I was when I came into recovery. Today my God is with me.



One of the times I seem to be able to connect with Him/Her is when I am sitting on the throne or in the bathtub. I also have a little prayer I say when I am in the shower, asking God to cleanse me of negativity and help me to let go of what isn't mine.

[majestyjo]

Yesterday I was blessed to hear a panel on how AA members found the spirituality in the program and how it worked for them.

One went back to his roots, and got involved in the Native Culture and is sharing recovery around the US and Canada.

Another had been in and out for several years, and finally he surrendered to the program, and now has 7 years clean.

The final speaker was a big lover of Zen. I heard him say to someone before the meeting, when I open my mouth, I will confuse everyone. I totally identified with him.

It doesn't matter what religion or path you follow as long as it is spiritual in nature.

For me, spirituality is giving without expecting back. Spirituality is about taking care of yourself, making healthy choices, so you can pass on a healing and positive message. That doesn't mean I sugar coat it and tell it how others want to hear it, but share it to the best of my ability, as a clean clear channel, sharing the message(s) that I have experienced and given to me by my God. My words are not original, they are what I have heard around the rooms of recovery, in my meditations, my perspective of what I have heard and read over the last 22 years. It doesn't matter that it is 22 years just means that I have been practicing for a very long time.

For me spirit means from within, going within and touching base with my God who resides withing. When I surrender, that spirit is lit, sometimes long dormant because I forgot to feed it and acknowledge that it is there.

Taking me out of the equation, it isn't all about me. We are part of the whole, and unity of spirit keeps us together and why I call a meeting, a God Village.

May you ever walk in the Sunlight of the Spirit. May the White Light of Love and the Fellowship of the Spirit, walk with you each day.

[majestyjo]

"We are privileged to communicate with each other to a degree and in a manner not very often surpassed among our nonalcoholic friends in the world around us."

Language of the Heart

AA Co-Founder, Bill W., October 1959
"AA Communication Can Cross All Boundaries"
The Language of the Heart 

[majestyjo]

MAKING CHOICES IS YOUR GREATEST POWER 

While your character is formed by your circumstances, your desires can shape those circumstances. 

The one thing over which you have absolute control is your own thoughts. 

It is this that puts you in a position to control your own destiny.  

Nature is constantly at work around you. 

Character and destiny are her handiwork. 

She gives you love and hate, jealousy and reverence. 

You have the power to choose which impulse you follow.  

At any time you can decide to alter the course of your life. 

No one can ever take that away from you. 

You can do what you want to do and be who you want to be.  

Your greatest power is the power to choose.  

Unknown 

From my site The Gathering of Eagles