Questions and Answers

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Two things jump out at me this afternoon from the pages of Alcoholics Anonymous (2001). The first is “We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe” (p. 75). This is one  of the things that book tells its readers they will realize if they work  a twelve step program of recovery. I have heard an “old timer” in the program remark, “that sounds good and all, but just how do we get to ‘walking hand in hand with the Spirits of the Universe?'” There are lots of answers to that question in AA’s “Big Book.” All are important, but I want to focus on a couple of them that I think are very good answers to this question.

The first answer is: “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—-unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment….I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes” (p. 417).

The second answer is:  “Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny” (p.164).

I could stop right now and know what needed to be said had been said.  To me, these quotes are telling me to shed my ego,  always look at my part in any situation that bothers me so that I can focus on changing  what needs changed  in both my mind and my attitude—the only things I can change.  The second quote is telling me I don’t have to do those things  alone; I need to find God and surrender myself to God—-to travel a spiritual path in search of and with that God. In addition,  I need to clear up the “wreckage of the past” before I start my journey, and I need to freely share what I find once I start my journey.

I hope that last paragraph explains why I am here writing these blogs—-I am on a journey hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe,  and I need to share what I find. Thank you for reading what I share! Please leave comments about your thoughts about these two quotes and what they mean in your life.  Thanks, and may God bless and keep you.