A spiritual thought
archie
When the love of others fails or disappoints us, we can rest in God’s changeless love.
No measure of faith is preserved without prayer.
PRAY FIRST
There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree. As he went further, he saw a large wild Tom turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A voice spoke to him and said, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused." However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, "I said ‘Pray, aim high and stay focused." So, the man decided to listen to God’s voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his family. The snake (satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God. Moral of the story: Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God.
Author unknown
Always Say A Prayer
archie
When there is nothing left but God,that is when we find out that God is all we need.
No day is complete without prayer.
PASS OTHERS PROBLEMS TO GOD
When folks look at me, it seems that all they see are my ears! I guess I’m just one of those people. Strangers come up to me and pour their hearts out. “I used to write books and teach college,” a homeless man told me wistfully one day, as I was walking to an ATM, “but that part of my life is gone.” I listened and nodded. That’s me—-always a shoulder to cry on.
Once, a checker at the supermarket stopped in the middle of bagging my groceries told me her family wanted their own home, but couldn’t afford it. “Prices are too high here,” I agreed.
Another clerk grumbled to me about her aching feet. Then one day she stepped out from behind the register to show me her new therapeutic shoes and get my opinion of them.
Sometimes, after hearing everyone else’s problems, I feel exhausted. Drained. I want to cry out: “Let me tell you about my family problems, my health worries, my money troubles for a change!”
Not long ago the owner of a local café took me aside. She told me her waitress’s husband had recently died. I could see she was devastated and needed to talk. We did, for a long while.
When I got home, I decided to pray. I always take my troubles straight to God. (He’s the Great Listener.) I mentioned the café owner, the waitress and her family. And all the people I’d met. That when it hit me: Maybe my job is to listen. Not to take on others’ troubles but to pass them on to the Lord, relay them up the line. I know that God will comfort those people as only He can. So now I look at myself in the mirror, and I don’t notice my wrinkles, just my two big ears! Listening doesn’t feel like a burden at all anymore. It feels like a privilege-—even a blessing.
Source unknown
archie
We won’t find God if we don’t open our own closed doors.
Prayer is not an alternative to preparation, and faith is not a substitute for hard work.
WISDOM TO KNOW WHAT TO PRAY FOR
I love the Grapevine, and have been a faithful reader for over nine years of sobriety. I especially appreciate the diversity of views expressed in our magazine. I believe it is this very openness and accessibility that have allowed A.A. to function and to thrive. I find my supposed open-mindedness exercises regularly, and that’s really good for my spiritual growth.
I’m writing so that others who think and feel as I do might know that they are not alone. Occasionally I read an article by a fellow alcoholic which seems to imply that God, if properly appealed to, will grant favors in the material realm. While I realize that this may be the experience of some members, I would like to say that it doesn’t coincide with my personal experience.
My experience is that prayer doesn’t arrange the material world to meet my preferences. My Higher Power doesn’t find parking spaces for me no matter how hard or how often I pray. Such a great puppeteer in the sky would be nice to have, for there are certainly some things for which I might pray. But I think it does a disservice to newcomers, and to those struggling to develop a relationship with their Higher Power, to suggest that proper petition will grant them their dream mate, new job, or stay of execution. It sets people up for the very disillusionment that many of us had when we arrived in Alcoholics Anonymous. I am grateful that I was taught in A.A. that we don’t pray for ourselves, and we don’t pray for things. Such childlike faith is fanciful and will easily lead to disappointment.
When things are not going my way, I don’t pray for them to be changed. I pray for the serenity to accept them or the courage to change them, and the wisdom to know which I am supposed to do. In the quiet of prayer and meditation, I am always granted these things. Whatever is going on outside of me may or may not change. That’s the way of the world. But I am always restored to sanity by prayer and meditation, and am thereby enabled to better handle whatever situation I am in.
When my kids are whining, no amount of prayer in the world will quiet them. Prayer, will, however, restore me to calm and sanity, so that I may be helpful to them. If I am in a situation that frightens or disturbs me, praying to God does not remove the situation. (It would not be a very helpful god who thus sequestered me from character-building experiences.) Instead, I am grated through prayer the ability to handle any situation, and in the course of my sobriety there have been many situations! I have never been able to change another person’s actions or attitudes through prayer, though I have consistently discovered the courage, serenity, and wisdom to handle any relations with others responsibly and compassionately.
I am a caring friend and neighbor, a patient father, and honest, thoughtful, and passionate husband, and a responsible and useful member of Alcoholics Anonymous as well as of my larger community. All of this is the direct and tangible result of prayer and meditation. But God still has not found me one parking place, changed another’s behavior, gotten me the right job, found me a sponsor, or in any way rearranged the world to meet my preferences. Frankly, I like it this way. It gives me the opportunity to take responsibility for my life. That’s what growing up is all about, isn’t it?
AAGrapevine, November 1995
archie
When troubles calls on us, call upon God.
Never try to forecast the way God is going to answer our prayers.
OVERCOMING FAILURE
It requires enormous faith to believe that our failures are for the greater good. But it is true. We learn more from disappointment than we do from success.
A Discovery Pamphlet, Over Coming Failure, page 24, paragraph 4
archie
When the quite hand of God comes into our lives His truth sets us free.
No matter how far we are from God, He's only a prayer away.
Paul Harvey says:
I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his Theory of Evolution.
Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a thirty second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire Book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking Him to grant safety to the players on the field and to the fans going home from the game.
But it's a Christian prayer, some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches out-number all others better than two hundred to one. So what would you expect somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.
If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.
And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit.
When in Rome...
But what about the atheists?...is another argument.
What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for thirty seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!
Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do. I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.
Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek, while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, and to pray before we go to sleep Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now, a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.
God, help us. And if that last sentence offends you, well, just sue me.
The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we tell that one or two individuals who scream loud enough to be heard that the vast majority doesn't care what they want. It is time that the majority rule. It's time we tell them: 'You don't have to pray; you don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right; but by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!' God bless us, one and all...especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still the greatest nation of all. God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.
Let's make this the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.
Keep looking up.
And that’s the rest of the story.
archie
When tempted to lose patience with others, remember God’s patience with us.
No one is an expert in prayer, we are all in kindergarten.
PRAYER REQUEST AND THE RESPONSE
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things,
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for richer, that I might be happy,
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men, most richly blessed.
Source unknown