Prayer and Meditation

I would frequently pray when young.  So-called foxhole prayers for god to get me out of some trouble or another that I was going to be in when my father got home in a day or two.   That never worked.

In recovery, I have learned how to use prayer and meditation for a similar effect as positive thinking, visualization or self-hypnosis.  That works a lot better than focusing on the negative with my magic magnifying mind.

I read AA’s 11^th step prayer aka the prayer of St Francis of Assisi (undoubtedly not his work).

Lord, make me an instrument 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.

Then I talked about my insane alcoholic thinking that makes smoking crack seem like an attractive idea no matter how self-destructive it actually is.  It was a good meeting.   I felt better.

I am grateful for what skills in prayer and meditation that I do have today.