We all know about the “emotional wringer” that A.A. speaks to us about in the Twelve and Twelve. It is here that we can read the St. Francis Prayer and how Bill W., the co-founder of AA recommends it to all those of us in recovery.
“Lord, make me a channel of thy peace – that where there is hatred, I may bring love – that where there is wrong, I may bring a 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 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. Amen.”
Twelve and Twelve. Page 99.
To continue our discussion on the importance of prayer and meditation the Twelve and Twelve says:
“Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God’s will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us.We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.”
Twelve and Twelve. Page 105.
Comment: ” Praying means to ask for something. We ask that we might let God take over our lives since we have admitted that we are powerless over sadding ourselves and that our lives have become unmanageable. As it says in Alcoholics Anonymous: I saw that it was my LIFE that was unmanageable -not just my drinking (drugs, overeating, sex-add your own).”
Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 97.