Never and Always

Some tidbits from our Prayer and Meditation chapter with Editor's commentary . . . 

"When we retire at night, we constructively review our day.
Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid?"  You got that right.
"Do we owe an apology?"  Almost certainly.
"Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?" You mean like one thing?  Not 50 or 160 things?
"Were we kind and loving toward all?" I don't think so.  Probably not.  Give me a break.
"What could we have done better?" Many, many things.
"Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time?"  This ridiculous statement implies that there is someone else I would be thinking about.
"Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?"  The absurdity grows, gaining momentum, one preposterous thought following another.

". . . that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems.  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."

I try to get some writing in every day for it is most helpful to my recovery.  This, however, is more along the lines of copying.  Transcribing, maybe.  It would be plagiarizing except I'm crediting the source of the material.

I was asked yesterday to price tickets for flights home.  My dad is battling a lot of stuff right now - C-diff, pneumonia, congestive heart failure, etc.  Scary stuff for someone who is eating and moving around, increasingly insurmountable for someone who isn't.

We lost a good member of The Fellowship last week to a sudden heart attack.  A guy he sponsored shared about how lost he felt, how isolated now that he has no one left that he can talk to.  THIS, my children, is why we keep expanding our contact list, why we have lots of people to talk to.  I was warned early on about the potential pitfalls of relying too much on one person, partially because that one person is fallible and may even falter himself and partially because we're all going to go at some point.  I felt sorry for the sponsee on multiple levels.

Keep fighting the good fight.  Don't smoke; don't drink or take illegal drugs; eat right; get some exercise; get enough sleep; nurture your spiritual life and also your social life; keep that brain engaged and active and challenged.  It's not a complicated list.  It's a list that surely doesn't contain any new stuff.

Some more copying . . . 
"We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends.  Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work.  You can easily see why."

Maybe YOU can easily see why . . .