“That discussion opened the door to a whole new world.”

Three readings. A song that says the rest. And inspiration for whatever this day is here to teach.

A lone surfer riding inside a great curling wave

Read — the readings that opened the day

Ohr Ein Sof

“Man is obliged to pray every day, imploring and beseeching God to bestow upon him life and goodness. God’s spirit resides deep within us; therefore, the idea of prayer is to awaken a will within God—yehi ratzon (יְהִי רָצוֹן) “May it be Your Will.” Prayer is the door to a new will. Ohr Ein Sof, (אוֹר אֵין סוֹף, w) means Infinite Light. It's deep within each of us, sometimes blocked by our minds. Today may your prayers open your hearts to God’s will & Infinite Light!”

Adapted from Infinite Light and the Power of Is

Into Action

"In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.”

Adapted from AA Big Book

Meditation for the Day

Meditation for the Day “We have Unseen help. We were not made so that we could see God. That would be too easy for us and there would be no merit in obeying Him. It takes an act of faith, a venture of belief, to realize the Unseen Power. Yet we have much evidence of God's existence in the strength that many people have received from the act of faith, the venture of belief. We are in a box of space and time, and we can see neither our souls nor God. God and the human spirit are both outside the limitations of space and time. Yet our Unseen help is effective here and now. That has been proved in thousands of changed lives. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may make the great venture of belief. I pray that my vision may not be blocked by intellectual pride.”

Reflect — Steve L.'s own words

The power of prayer? I had prayed so many times, help me, help me? Yet I continued to slide into addiction, or other negative behaviors. Where is God? Why isn’t He helping me? Walking into recovery, I was dumfounded. I’ve only got a drug and alcohol problem; I never went out and drank a 6 or 12 pack.

I was trying so hard to manage, why didn’t God help me? I called my new sponsor and started to explain. He listened, then asked, “Steve, have you ever asked what God wanted from you?” What? I said, “I never thought of that.” He said, “Exactly. We’ve all been so busy playing God our whole lives, asking for what we wanted, for God to help us with a certain task or problem. Step 3 says “we offer, nor demand or help us to manage better." Write down your conception of God. Let’s go over your list tomorrow.”

That discussion opened the door to a whole new world. Later in Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, it says, “Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.”

When we met, we shared that chapter and then said the 3rd Step Prayer.

For the first time, I was told that willingness is a gift; to be grateful for that; to keep sharing, asking for help along the way to put the key in the lock!

Yesterday, the day flowed so fast, one thing after another. Picking up Lea to go to Hogans Heroes, it was tough getting her in and out of the car, but upon arrival, the buzz & spirit in the room, the gift of fellowship was overwhelming. Sometimes, the key is a car key! But where to go?

My friend Tim H. said his sponsor would say, “Get in the car!” and that they named a meeting after that saying! Maybe that's the secret to go with the flow?

Thanks for telling me that faith is the key; to pick it up and get onboard for a journey to a better life.