Gratitude 2012
As we approach the beginning of the secular year, the New Year has begun in Judaism. It is time for me to express my gratitude for life and what I have; not possessions because they are transient, my material wealth could disappear at any moment but my relationship with and trust of my God are permanent. As King David wrote in Psalm 20, “There are those who trust in chariots and those who trust in horses, but we trust in the Almighty.”
My journey has been a search for emotional sobriety over the last year, to replace the bedevilments with the promises. “ We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people-was not a basic solution of these bedevilments more important…”
Page 52 of Alcoholics Anonymous
The enlargement of my spiritual life and growth would require me to treat all with love, admiration and respect. Not an easy task for someone who had spent a lifetime seeking power, harboring resentments, being angry, fearful, dishonest, self-centered and shameful. This new honesty with others was uncomfortable, and trusting God with my life was the opposite of how I had lived for over 45 years.
If I am making this commitment then putting it in writing and expressing my gratitude brings me a step closer to making it my reality.
I am grateful for:
• Family who loves me unconditionally
• Friends who I trust and love me in return
• Life on Life’s Terms
• Good health
• Nature
• Blessings
• Recovery and Sobriety
• God in my life
The journey is not always easy but if I can approach it without expectations, or the necessity to be perfect than I experience new freedoms and peace.
“If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations, which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not.
They are being fulfilled among us-sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
They will always materialize if we work for them. “
Pages 83-84 of Alcoholics Anonymous
The tools are there, it is my choice to listen to God’s will, understand it and have His power to do it. Life is full of storms, my choice is to remain calm and not become one of them.
Dear God…You know what is for my good. If I ar¬ticulate my desires, it is not to remind You, but so that I might better understand how greatly de¬pendent I am on You. If then, afterwards, I ask You for things that are not in my best interest, it is because I am humbly ignorant, You know best what is for my good and I acknowledge that Your choice is better than mine; I give myself over to You and the Divine direction of my life. Amen