MY ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON
STEP ELEVEN
"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will
for us and the power to carry that out."
1. In What way are Meditation and prayer main channels to our
Higher Power?
When
we come to make regular use of prayer we would no more do without it than we
would refuse air food or sunshine When we refuse air light or food the body
suffers when we turn away from prayer and meditation we likewise deprive
ourselves of this needed support from our HP with out food or shelter our body
suffers when we move away from God our soul suffers We all need God's light and
His strength love and feeling of His grace in our lives
2. What is the Connection between self-examination and meditation
and prayer?
There
is a linkage to our self-examination thru our meditation and from our prayer
together these practices can bring relief and the benefit of Gods will working
in our lives the result is an unshakable foundation for a new way of life we
will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure
for so long as we try however falteringly to find and do the will of God
3. In what way is this an unshakable foundation for our lives?
We
will want the good that is in us all even in the worst of us to flower and to
grow Most certainly we shall need bracing air and an abundance of food But
first of all we shall want sunlight nothing much can grow in the dark
Meditation is our step out into the sun
4. How shall we meditate?
Well, we might start with the prayer of St Francis
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
That where there is hatred, I may bring love
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony
That where there is error, I may bring truth
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith
That where there is despair, I may bring hope
That where there are shadows, I may bring light
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted
To understand, than to be understood
To love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life Amen
This much could be a fragment of what is called meditation
5. Does Meditation have any boundaries as to how or when?
Followed
by a good look at where we stand now and a further look at what might happen in
our lives were we able to move closer to the ideal we have been trying to
glimpse Meditation is something which can always be further developed It has no
boundaries, either of width or height
6. How can we make this an individual adventure into recovery?
Our
individual adventures are something each one of us has to works out in his own
way praying its object is always the same to improve our conscious contact with
God with His grace wisdom and love meditation is in reality intensely practical
One of its first fruits is emotional balance With it we can broaden and deepen
the channel between ourselves and God as we understand Him
7. How does this affect our emotional balance in our newfound
lives?
Our
emotional balance is greatly affected by how we act or react to a situation
when we are right with Gods will for us we are in balance with how to act upon
any situation that comes up the moment we use our own free will to try to
control a situation then we find ourselves unbalanced emotionally so the use of
pray and mediation is essential to keep us in this emotional balance in
everything we do
8. What about prayer?
Prayer
is the raising of the heart and mind to God asking for his help in our daily
lives asking that his will not ours be done this day pray is a petition to God
Having opened our channel as best we can we try to ask for those right things
of which we and others are in the greatest need the whole range of our needs is
well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: "...knowledge of His
will for us and the power to carry that out." A request for this fits in
any part of our day
9. How is daily prayer and meditation the seeking of understanding
God's will and grace?
In
the morning we pray how we can be useful and helpful to ourselves or others
even when some special problem that come up needing Gods guidance to solve not
to ask for specific solutions to specific problems and for the ability to help
other people as we have already thought they should be helped we should
consider each prayer carefully to see what its real merit is it will be well to
add to each one of them this qualification if it be Thy will we ask simply God
place in us the best possible understanding of His will that we can have and
that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.
10. Are the Actual results of prayer beyond question?
The
good results of prayer are beyond question They are matters of knowledge and
experience all those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily
their own they have found wisdom beyond their usual capability and they have
increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of
difficult circumstances for me this is all that we are seeing in our sons
difficult times ahead of him with out pray I know he would have been taken home
to God
11. What are the Rewards of meditation and prayer?
One
of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that
comes to us we no longer live in a completely hostile world we are no longer
lost and frightened and purposeless The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's
will the moment we begin to see truth justice and love as the real and eternal
things in life we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to
the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs We know that God
lovingly watches over us We know that when we turn to Him all will be well with
us here and hereafter
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