Corking the Bottle

Today's A.A. Daily Reflection is about prayer. I never pray on my knees. I no longer pray with eyes closed, head bowed, or hands folded. I learned those acts of devotion in church as a wee lad. Now I'm not a wee lad and I don't go to church, for several reasons I won't go into now. Instead, my higher power is part of my unconscious, just as he is in you and in everyone through Jung's theory of collective unconscious. That's how God knows our thoughts and hears our silent prayers. I pray throughout the day, sometimes silently and, when it  won't embarrass me, out loud. God is like the invisible friend I had when I was little. Heck, maybe I was in touch with God then and Loodie was in reality God. It's not preposterous. If you can believe there was no such thing as women until God took Adam's rib and added meat and skin to it, then grant me the privilege to believe God's home is in all of our minds. I'll close by pasting below the quota...

"Just as a sculptor will use different tools to achieve desired effects in creating a work of art, in Alcoholics Anonymous the Twelve Steps are used to bring about results in my own life.... My life is now in the Hands of my Higher Power, a master craftsman who is shaping each part of my life into a unique work of art." That's an excerpt from A.A.'s Daily Reflections for July 1. After it was read at an A.A. meeting I attended that day, Jim added to the sculpting metafore. He said sculpting is done either by adding or taking away. By starting with nothing, an artist can take clay and form it to take the shape he wants. Or a sculptor can start with a rock or a slab of metal or even ice and take away from it until he creates the form he wants it to have. Jim's point was that God does sculpt us. He can do so by adding joy to our lives and helping us find our true form. God also sculpts us by taking away our drinking and our flaws. "He makes me a new person....

(This was originally posted on June 15, 2018.) I had a Sunday School teacher when I was in high school who believed the Bible was the infallible word of God, no questions asked. That kind of blind belief was met by teenage doubts and questioning. One Sunday, she left the room to let us discuss "firing" her. We did. Our new teacher allowed us to openly discuss Bible stories, what they meant, and if they were literally true. I never lost my faith in a higher power, but I never found Him/Her, for example, as the one who flooded the entire earth except for Noah and his arkful. Today's A.A. Daily Reflection says, "I couldn't accept the concept of a Higher Power because I believed God was cruel and unloving. In desperation I chose a table, a tree, then my A.A. group, as my Higher Power. Time passed, my life improved, and I began to wonder about this Higher Power. Gradually, with patience, humility and a lot of questions, I came to believe in God. Now my relations...

[First published June 15, 2018] I had a Sunday School teacher when I was in high school who believed the Bible was the infallible word of God, no questions asked. That kind of blind belief was met by teenage doubts and questioning. One Sunday, she left the room to let us discuss "firing" her. We did. Our new teacher allowed us to openly discuss Bible stories, what they meant, and if they were literally true. I never lost my faith in a higher power, but I never found Him/Her, for example, as the one who flooded the entire earth except for Noah and his arkful. Today's A.A. Daily Reflection says, "I couldn't accept the concept of a Higher Power because I believed God was cruel and unloving. In desperation I chose a table, a tree, then my A.A. group, as my Higher Power. Time passed, my life improved, and I began to wonder about this Higher Power. Gradually, with patience, humility and a lot of questions, I came to believe in God. Now my relationship with my Hig...

I asked for my sponsor's help. I confessed I never worked Steps 8 and 9. It's about time I finally do. He and are meeting Monday after A.A. Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. I am afraid to do that. I can list people I have harmed, I think. But how do I go to these people and scoop old garbage out of the can? This is where I need my sponsor's guidance. Not just guidance, but a strong shove. I asked God to remove my shortcomings back in Step 7. Cleaning off the noses I bloodied makes Step 9 harder than that. Also, what are amends? The Big Book talks of them. But how do I pay back people like my wife? It isn't just forgiveness I need to seek. But how do I do penance for all the anxiety I put her through? Still, I need to do it somehow, Today's A.A, Daily Reflections explains why: "...

Someone at my home group meeting today said something I really liked. We were discussing the AA Daily Reflection, which said in part, "The 12 Steps have helped to change my life in many ways, but none is more effective than the acquisition of a Higher Power." A man at the meeting said he used to worship a lower power -- alcohol -- and he was his own higher power. I can relate. Another shared that he can't define God, but you can feel him inside you if you are open. From the Big Book , page 60: "...God could and would if he were sought ."

I had a Sunday School teacher when I was in high school who believed the Bible was the infallible word of God, no questions asked. That kind of blind belief was met by teenage doubts and questioning. One Sunday, she left the room to let us discuss "firing" her. We did. Our new teacher allowed us to openly discuss Bible stories, what they meant, and if they were literally true. I never lost my faith in a higher power, but I never found Him/Her, for example, as the one who flooded the entire earth except for Noah and his arkful. Today's A.A. Daily Reflection says, "I couldn't accept the concept of a Higher Power because I believed God was cruel and unloving. In desperation I chose a table, a tree, then my A.A. group, as my Higher Power. Time passed, my life improved, and I began to wonder about this Higher Power. Gradually, with patience, humility and a lot of questions, I came to believe in God. Now my relationship with my Higher Power gives me the strength to...