A Prayer & Some Thoughts - December

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December 19


Prayer for Strength When Weary

Lord, I’m weary. My energy is sagging, and my motivation is lagging. And I am so in need of your strength and your fresh touch to get back on track again.

The pressures of life sometimes push me into a corner, rendering me helpless to move forward. A hundred voices call my name, and I feel paralyzed at times to answer, not knowing where to turn. Lord, help me not to quit, to keep running the race faithfully, and to find strength to continue.

I need your strength to say no when I'm tempted to surrender to harmful things, or when selfishness clings to my clothes and won't let go. I need your strength to say yes, when cowardice and fear nudge me to deny the convictions of my heart. I need your strength to reach out in love to those both close to me and all around me.

Renew my strength, Lord. Fill me with your power to overcome each obstacle in my path. With my eyes on you, Lord, with you walking beside me, working through me, I can make it. Thank you, Lord!
Amen

~ Rebecca Barlow Jordan

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Just a Thought

Do I put too much reliance on any one member of the group? That is, do I make a tin god out of some one person? Do I set that person on a pedestal?

If I do, I am building my house on sand. All A.A. members have "clay feet." They are all only one drink away from a drunk, no matter how long they have been sober in A.A. This has been proved to be true more than once. It's not fair to any member to be singled out as a leader in A.A. and to always quote that member on the A.A. program. If that person should fail, where would I be?

So ............

Can I afford to be tipped over by the failure of my ideal?

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Just a Contemplation

Envy

No emotion brings us more personal pain or wastes more of our time than envy. When we envy, we are never free from stress.When we envy others, we blind ourselves to the good we could see in all people.

When we envy the accomplishments or possessions of another, we will be better off if we look to our own prized possessions, to those things in ourselves that no one else has in exactly the same way.

What riches do I have within and around me today?

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For Emergencies Only

Whether we had been believers or unbelievers, we began to get over the idea that the Higher Power was a sort of bush-league pinch hitter, to be called upon only in an emergency.

The notion that we would still live our own lives, God helping a little now and then, began to evaporate. Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help.

But now the words "Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works" began to carry bright promise and meaning.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Page 75

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Just a Quote

“There are two kinds of slaves, the prisoners of addiction, and the prisoners of envy.” ~ Ivan Ilich