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the process, however, is neither difficult nor complicated.
but it has become an essential part of my the daily routine that aids my journey through recovery.
although this reading does talk about some things to pray for, it is very quiet as to how one should pray. it offers a few alternatives, and presents a simple formula, but other than that, the reading steers clear of suggesting a guided course of action.
this whole pray and develop a connection with a HIGHER POWER concept was confusing to me when i was getting clean. first off the members in the room suggest that i need to do something, but present very little guidance on how to do it. there i was, disparate for guidance, which on many other topics was quite specific and detailed, but generally lacking here. i see the same confusion on many of the faces of those who are just coming to recovery these days, and i want to provide them the answers that i found. i realize that the silence on this issue is by design and not out of malice. if i was told how to pray and what to pray to, back then, i would have rebelled against this entire part of my recovery program. rebellion is part of my nature, and no matter how messed up and desperate i was, i always seem to rebel before surrendering. by fumbling around to find a concept of a HIGHER POWER that worked for me, and then working on the means to achieve conscious contact, all by myself, i got the gift of a new manner of living my life. part of that gift was accepting the whole concept of a spiritual connection to the divine. one of the best parts of that connection is that it is a fluid and ever changing concept. as my notions of what the face of a HIGHER POWER looks like changes, so does the means in which i pray. and as those methods change, so does what i ask for in prayer. true, some things never change -- like asking for the power to stay clean today and expressing gratitude for getting that power on a daily basis. however what i have really discovered is that the words and actions i use are unimportant for me, the action itself is what is necessary for my continuing recovery, and after all that is my goal today -- to use the POWER provided to me to stay clean -- no mater what.
so although i would love to go on and on about how important this part of my recovery is to me, i need to move on to the tasks before this morning -- life is full and that is because today i accept the power to stay clean from my concept of a HIGHER POWER. so off to the races....

∞ DT ∞