When we pray, it helps us lots in our hearts. We don't do good
sometimes because our hearts are not right. We learn good while our prayer
voice says "Do good." Squ-sact-un
Squaxin "Shucks!" says somebody. "This is nonsense. It isn't
practical." When such thoughts break in, we might recall, a little ruefully,
how much store we used to set by imagination as it tried to create reality
out of bottles. Yes, we reveled in that sort of thinking, didn't we? And
though sober nowadays, don't we often try to do much the same thing?
Perhaps our trouble was not that we used our imagination. Perhaps the real
trouble was our almost total inability to point imagination toward right
objectives. There's nothing the matter with constructive imagination; all
sound achievement rests upon it. After all, no man can build a house until
he envisions a plan for it. Well, meditation is like that, too; it helps
envision our spiritual objective before we try to move toward
it. Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg.
100 This much could
be a fragment of what is called meditation, perhaps our very first attempt
at a mood, a flier into the realm of spirit, if you like. It ought to be
followed by a good look at where we stand now, and a further look at what
might happen in our lives were we able to move closer to the ideal we
have been trying to glimpse. Meditation is something which can always
be further developed. It has no boundaries, either of width or height.
Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an
individual adventure, something which each of us works out in his own way.
But its object is always the same: to improve our conscious contact with
God, with His grace, wisdom, and love. Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg.
101 Great Mystery help us to pray. Help us to have good in our
hearts. |