Serenity …

I am really glad that so many of you enjoyed last nights post on Strongholds. It took me hours to write it, thanks to some good tunes and a couple hours of peaceful time to sit and be able to write something really coherent and substantial.

The post is also PAGED so that you can return to it if you wish instead of having to go look for it after it gets buried by other posts. All you need to do is look through the PAGES list on the sidebar and click “Stronghold.”

So many people liked and sent me some beautiful comments. I really enjoyed writing that for you and for myself. I am often amazed at what comes out onto the page when I write sometimes. I continually surprise myself with insight.

Welcome to all my new followers, I am glad to have you on board. I love hearing from you.

I think Spring is finally here. The terraces in the city are open and people have been out and about all day today and yesterday reveling in the beautiful weather we have been having. We are sitting at 18c at this hour.

It was a beautiful day. I was up mid day and set out for the church early because it was so nice, I took the overland route to the church instead of walking through the tunnel.

It went like clockwork. I was done with set up around 5:30 and our women started showing up shortly afterwards. People are making good use of the room as we open the hall 90 minutes before the meeting so that people can come and read and fellowship.

We sat probably 40 + people, I did not count but it was a full house. Lots of people sat and the topic was from “Living Sober” the chapter titled:  Using the Serenity Prayer …

It was short reading so we had time to get everyone in the room the opportunity to share. So many different stories about prayer, how they found it, how they use the prayer, and in the end what results come from using the prayer.

The whole prayer reads:

God grant me the Serenity
to Accept the things I cannot change
the Courage to change the things I can
and the Wisdom to know the difference

Grant me patience with things that take time
Appreciation for all that I have
Tolerance for those with different struggles
and the Strength to get up and try again
One day at a time …

I find that sometimes I use this prayer in pieces. Breaking up the first four lines into daily meditations. God grant me serenity, To Accept the things I cannot change, The Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Often, at the start of my day I pray for Serenity. I sometimes want to be in other places in my life by situation and circumstance, and I know that I can’t change where I am at this stage of my life, So acceptance is a good lesson. I am powerless over people, places and things, so the only thing I can change is my vision, my attitude and my thoughts, And sometimes I need to be reminded of what IS changeable in my life and what is NOT. I can’t change YOU but I can change ME, at any given point of my day, and sometimes I get to start my day over again, just by saying this prayer. So it’s a WIN – WIN scenario …

We say this prayer at every meeting. It comes like rote. It is the meeting opener, and for many a meeting closer as well. But aside from repeating the words like rote, do we take the time to dig deeper and really get to the meat and potatoes of what this prayer actually means? Everybody has their method.

It was a good night, everybody got in to share and we all learned from each other. So it was a good night over all. It’s good to be sober today.

Thanks for spending some of your time with us here. Welcome …

More to come, stay tuned …