Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Like, Whatever, Dude
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
It's Enough Already With All of the People
Monday, March 31, 2025
Paintings and Music
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Ghosts in the City of Death
Friday, March 28, 2025
The Pied Piper
Thy Will Be Done
It should be noted that "thy" is a stupid way to say "your." Unless you are heavily invested in nineteenth century religious literature which I can bet is not something you're heavily invested in.
Bombard: To assail vigorously or persistently; to attack (a place or person) continuously with bombs, shells, or other missiles.
I like the second half of the definition better. "The best defense is a big offense." I don't care what you're saying because I'm going to say more than that. And with more vigor and ire. Defend, deflect, deny, attack.
It is when we try to make our will conform with God’s that we began to use it rightly. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us.
At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling him what it ought to be.
I was hoping that at some point I would be provided with a special red alert phone that connected directly with God so I could lay out my do's and don't's for the day. I cannot find this phone. I have never been able to locate this phone. In fact, I'm more likely to lose a phone than locate a direct phone line to God.
We had not even prayed rightly. We had always said “Grant me my wishes” instead of “Your will be done.”
Gimme Gimme Gimme! Now Now Now!
We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful and ask for the right thought or action.
We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.
. . . we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that 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.’
This whole idea of thinking about other people really sticks in my craw. It's really an unfair request to make of me. I have no interest in doing this and I have no experience in doing this and I have an elevated skill set that enables me to think about myself at the expense of others. It's hard to stop a battleship under full steam. (I'm the battleship here. That's me.)
This, of course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development.