“ Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean
to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and You are older than all need,
older than all prayer...You are the life of all things."
Black
Elk Oglala Sioux
Almost
any A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns
for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God. He will
also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of
God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new
resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the
conviction came that God does "move in a mysterious way his wonders to
perform."
All
this should be very encouraging news for those who recoil from prayer because
they don't believe in it, or because they feel themselves cut off from God's
help and direction. All of us, without exception, pass through times when we
can pray only with the greatest exertion of will. Occasionally we go even
further than this. We are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply
won't pray. When these things happen we should not think too ill of ourselves.
We simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we know to be good for
us. 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
Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 105