Posts Tagged: 12-step readings
DTEB, “Delight in Doing What God Wants”
“Psa. 40:0 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
Psa. 40:1 I uwaited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and vheard my cry.
2 He drew me up from wthe pit of destruction,
out of xthe miry bog,
and yset my feet upon a rock,
zmaking my steps secure.
3 He put aa new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will bsee and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
Psa. 40:4 Blessed is the man who cmakes
the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who dgo astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
your ewondrous deeds and your fthoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are gmore than can be told.
Psa. 40:6 hIn sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open iear.1
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written jof me:
8 kI delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is lwithin my heart.”
Psa. 40:9 I have told the glad news of deliverance2
in mthe great congregation;
behold, I have not nrestrained my lips,
oas you know, O LORD.
10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
Psa. 40:11 As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain
your mercy from me;
your psteadfast love and your faithfulness will
ever preserve me!
12 For evils have qencompassed me
beyond number;
my riniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot ssee;
they are tmore than the hairs of my head;
my heart ufails me.
Psa. 40:13 vBe pleased, O LORD, to wdeliver me!
O LORD, xmake haste to help me!
14 yLet those be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who seek to snatch away my life;
let those be zturned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
15 Let those be appalled because of their shame
who asay to me, “Aha, Aha!”
Psa. 40:16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
bsay continually, “Great is the LORD!”
17 As for me, I am cpoor and needy,
but dthe Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God!” (Psalm 40, English Standard Version)
I read the following as part of my 12-step readings for today:
“And in the willing of God’s will there should be gladness. You should delight to do that will because when you do, all your life goes right and everything tends to work well for you in the long run. When you are honestly trying to do God’s will and humbly accepting the results, nothing can seriously hurt you. Those who accept the will of God in their life may not inherit the earth, but they will inherit real peace of mind.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have a yielded will. I pray that my will may be attuned to the will of God.” (From Twenty-Four Hours a Day © 1975 by Hazelden Foundation.)
To delight in doing the will of God—what a concept! I’m afraid a lot of us, even mature believers who ought to know better, tend to think of God’s will as a stern thing. God’s will can certainly feel that way at times.
And yet, I have noticed that, when I do what I know or suspect to be God’s will, things do indeed go better for me. It as if God loves me better and knows me better than I love and know myself. I’ve often tried following my own will. I still do a good bit of the time. It never seems to end well.
Maybe I should remove the “as if” qualifier from my previous sentence about God’s love for and knowledge of me. Maybe I should also remove the word “maybe” from my preceding sentence.
“Love: The Only True Adventure”
“Love God and love people like you love yourself.” (Jesus, my paraphrase)
“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them.” (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again)
One of my 12-step readings for today is as follows:
“Sunday, August 7
We love because it’s the only true adventure.
—Nikki Giovanni
In loving, we meet ourselves. As we have become more honest, we no longer make excuses about our relationship problems. We can’t blame our troubles on our partner. Our problems with love were often because we didn’t know how to be close or we didn’t dare to be.
When we let ourselves engage in this adventure, we meet many obstacles – things we can’t control, and sometimes we want to quit right there. We have arguments and disappointments as well as good feelings. But what adventure is without difficulty or surprises? Part of the reason for choosing new experiences is to confront forces outside our control. A relationship is a dialogue. Only if we stay with it through the frustrations, express our deepest feelings openly, and listen to our partner, do we achieve a new level of understanding and confidence in the relationship. Then deeper levels also open within ourselves.”
Today, I will let honesty guide me in this adventure of my love dialogue.” (From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
In the above reading, I was especially struck by the sentence “But what adventure is without difficulty or surprises?” The fact that I was struck by the sentence should not be construed to mean that I liked the sentence or the truth that it expresses. The truth is that I like easy and predictable. On the other hand, is easy-and-predictable really The Truth?
My wife likes Hallmark love stories. (I do too, but don’t tell my wife. Hopefully she won’t read this post.) Have you noticed that they generally end with the wedding? That is an excellent idea. Why? Because the difficulties and surprises begin after the wedding. It is difficult—verging on the impossible—to wrap a marriage up in a neat package and put a pretty bow on it. Having a beautiful wedding and a beautiful marriage are two very different things.
And, of course, most of every adventure consists of boring, demanding slogs through dismal country. Almost no one tells you that. However, that also is part of the adventure.
My affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by God’s grace, I am daring to love myself, God, other people, and all creation.” It takes some daring. Even Hallmark shows have some difficulty and surprises as part of their script.
I hope that you have an adventuresome and loving day!
“Advice vs. Guidance”
Before I threw the covers off this morning, I prayed that God would guide me through and throughout this day. My 12-step affirmation for today is “Today, I am allowing my Higher Power to guide me to make good choices and to follow through on those choices.”
Then, strangely enough, in one of my 12-step readings, I encountered a section entitled “Divinely Led.” It began with an epigraph, which is also a prayer:
“Send me the right thought, word, or action. Show me what my next step should be. In times of doubt and indecision please send your inspiration and guidance.
—Alcoholics Anonymous” (https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/thought-for-the-day?book=2&date=2021-02-11)
It is so much easier to give advice than guidance. An advisor points out the direction you should go. A guide goes with you.
According to both the Old and New Testaments, God is not an advisor. God is a guide. Of course, God is not just a guide. God is many things. But God isa guide.
I really appreciate that sometimes. I can get lost in my own close closet—and it isn’t even a walk-in closet. For sure, I can get lost in my own mind. As someone has said, “The mind is a dark and scary place. Don’t go there alone!”
My Guide often accompanies me to places I don’t want to go, but my Guide goes with me. And when I follow and arrive at this place I did not want to go, there is a delightful view or a needful lesson to be learned—sometimes a view and a lesson.
God guides me in many ways: through the Bible, for sure, but in other ways as well. Here is a very partial list of ways in which my Guide guides:
- The Bible.
- Other books and articles, both sacred and secular.
- Music.
- Friends.
- 12-step readings.
- Internal nudging from the Holy Spirit.
- My dog.
- My circumstances.
- Trial and error.
- My own internal longings. (Well, some of them.)
Who’s to say? Perhaps God even guides through blog posts like this one. May you be guided through this day!
“Repentance and Conforming to the Gospel”
Today’s “3-Minute Retreat” from Loyola Press (which you can access at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/the-consequences-of-not-repenting-start-retreat) was based on Luke 13:5:
“But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
The retreat master writes, “To perish, to be lost forever, is not a pleasant thought on which to dwell. It is better to repent, to be contrite, so that you can come to a place of starting anew. In the deepest part of ourselves we know there is no other way to change. To repent is much more than saying “I’m sorry.” It is the profound understanding that we must conform our lives to the Gospel, or be lost forever.”
To say “I’m sorry” is very difficult for me. It probably is for virtually everyone.
But to conform to the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that is on border between excruciatingly difficult and absolutely impossible. Anyone who thinks it is easy to follow Jesus has probably never read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Or, at least, they have not taken those documents seriously.
There is a good reason for the subtitle of this website: “Musings of a Deeply Flawed Christ-Follower.” Sometimes, the flaws seem so much more real than the part about following Christ.
One of my 12-step readings from Hazelden made a very similar point about actually living a transforming life. Here it is:
“Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other.
—M. C. Richards
Recovering men know this path is not always easy. We usually talk about the benefits of recovery and the many promises of the program. Today, in our fellowship, we talk of the challenges we must face in order to recover. Honesty may be the greatest challenge. It is frightening to be honest with ourselves about things we have never really admitted or faced before.
Sometimes we have new and confusing feelings and think something must be wrong with us. But we may be just experiencing the logical outcome of our earlier commitment to be honest. No one recovers by thinking about it. We must actively take each Step and meet the challenges presented. We are not alone with our difficulties. We are part of a large movement of men committed to recovery, and this quiet moment is one way in which we are simply putting one foot in front of the other.
Today, I pray for the courage to remain faithful when the fears and pains of my transformation are overwhelming.” (From Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
Yes!
Conforming myself to the Gospel, being transformed by putting one foot in front of the other in the direction of a sane, sober, loving life—these are not easy. But then, neither is staying the way I am. And no one has to do any of this alone or all at once. I have good companions who both encourage and hold me accountable. And I have the strength to take this one step in this one moment.
“None of Your Business! Loving the Unfinished Parts of Me”
My oldest brother had a saying for everything. If someone asked a question that was too personal, my brother would say, “That comes under “Nunya.”
Usually, the prying questioner would ask, “What’s ‘Nunya’?”
My brother would reply, “Nunya business!” (He usually added one or more spicy adjectives, but you get the picture.)
Today, in one of my twelve-step readings, I was encouraged to love the unfinished parts of me. I don’t do that well, so it was a good reminder.
However, since I don’t like dealing with what I need to do in the present moment, I decided to ask a theoretical question: “Even in eternity, in Heaven, will I still be unfinished?”
And immediately, from somewhere outside of me (or someone outside of me?) came the non-answer to my unwise question. “That is none of your business! Get busy loving your unfinished parts right now!”
Loving the unfinished parts of me doesn’t mean that I don’t keep letting God work on them. It doesn’t mean that I don’t work on them myself. Quite the contrary! It is precisely when I am loving the parts of me that aren’t all together that I am able to work and allow God to work in my life.
Loving the unfinished bits of me—and they are often not bits of me, but large swaths of me—is another way of speaking of loving the process. Years ago, a very dear friend who is a good golfer observed me make a horrible swing, but get a lucky bounce with a good result. He said something to the effect that it was a good shot, provided that I was more interested in product than in process. That was a fair and helpful comment in golf and in life.
So, what are your unfinished parts? Do you love them?
God does, so don’t ask questions that come under the heading of “Nunya!” Get busy loving!
“The Hardest Someone to Forgive”
Here is part of a 12-step reading from Hazelden Publishing:
“Forgiveness should be an ongoing process. Attention to it
daily will ease our relationships with others and encourage greater self-love.
First on our list for forgiveness should be ourselves. Daily, we heap
recriminations upon ourselves. And our lack of self-love hinders our ability to
love others, which in turn affects our treatment of them. We’ve come full
circle – and forgiveness is in order. It can free us. It will change our
perceptions of life’s events, and it promises greater happiness.
The forgiving heart is magical. My whole life will undergo a dynamic change
when I develop a forgiving heart.” (From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for
Women by Karen Casey © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
I was especially struck by the words, “First on our list for forgiveness should be ourselves. Daily, we heap recriminations upon ourselves. And our lack of self-love hinders our ability to love others, which in turn affects our treatment of them.”
I struggle with forgiving the man that I was. I did so many stupid, harmful things to myself and many others. The fallout from those decisions haunts me and others to this very day. I will go to my grave grieving over these things.
Or will I? Grieving is good, if it leads to real repentance and a better, kinder way of living. But grief is not good, in and of itself. I am not the man I used to be, no matter what I or anyone else thinks about the matter.
But I still struggle with self-forgiveness. Partly, this may be caused by the fact that I don’t see self-forgiveness taught in the Bible. Yes, God forgives. Sometimes, other people forgive. I am to forgive others. Yes, yes, and yes. But where in the Bible does it say anything about self-forgiveness?
The problem with asking hard questions is that sometimes you get even harder answers. This was the case when I asked the question about biblical self-forgiveness.
A verse came to mind. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you (Colossians 3:13 | NIV).
I suspect that I am a someone. I suspect that we are all someones.
“Invincible Summer”
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” (Albert Camus)
This was the epigraph that led off one of my 12-step readings this morning. I am profoundly grateful to Hazelden Publishing for these readings. They help make me saner—or, at least, a little less crazy.
I have been prone to depression for nearly sixty years. It started just before Christmas when I was nine years old. I didn’t even know what to call it then. I have since come to know the grey monster only too well.
Especially in winter, it is a problem. Some forty years ago, my wife noticed, one dreary February day, that I was more prone to depression in the winter. In her usual constructive manner, she said, “You need to get some exercise. Perhaps that would help.”
“It’s 270!” I replied. I thought that would cool her jets. It didn’t. She’s pesky like that.
“Why don’t we go play golf?” she continued. “You’ve been wanting to teach me how to play.”
“It’s 270!” I said again, as if she hadn’t heard the first time.
“We’ll bundle up,” she said.
Knowing my wife’s persistence (and being too depressed to resist much of anything), we bundled up, got someone to watch our kids, threw my clubs in our refrigerated car, and headed for the golf course.
After five holes of icy golf, I was feeling much colder, but a lot less depressed. “I think I’m feeling better,” I said, through chattering teeth. And then, I added, “You really did well for this being your first golf outing ever.”
“I would have done even better if I had had left-handed clubs,” she replied. I am a righty, and my wife is a lefty. She really did do well!
I have a lot to be depressed about right now. No need to go into all the details. It would make me even more depressed if I did. It probably wouldn’t do a lot to lift your spirits either.
But now, along comes Camus, who is not known for his optimism, with this quote: “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Invincible summer! Now there’s an incantation with which to conjure. I can certainly remember summer, even in winter. And I can play summer songs on You Tube. I can probably even create a “summer channel” on AccuRadio.
And maybe, just maybe, I can come to enjoy winter more, too.
After a long, grey, wintry spell, the day is dawning cold, but bright and clear. Today, I will choose joy. Today, I will choose to be invincible summer.
“Giving Thanks for Ordinary Goods”
Here is a wonderful 12-step reading for today. Enjoy! Hazelden Publishing sells some very helpful devotional materials for people in recovery. Some are overtly Christian. Most are not. All are helpful.
“
Thursday, November 28
for most this amazing day . . .
. . . for everything
which is natural which is infinite
which is yes.
—e. e. cummings
Let us be thankful today for all simple obvious things: for the sun’s rising this morning without our having to awaken it; for another good turn the earth makes today without expecting anything in return; for our ability to know right and wrong by heart. Let us give thanks for all small things that mean the world to us; for bread and cheese and clean running water; for our ability to call our enemies our friends, to forgive even ourselves; for our own bodies, however sagging and worn, which insist on continuing for at least another day.
How much ordinary daily good do I take for granted?” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
“You Can do Something!”
A friend of mine was telling me the other day that he hates the saying, “You can be anything you want to be.” We usually say this to children or young people. My friend thinks that this is a lie. I agree. Where we’re born, whether we’re male or female, born into wealth or poverty, the color of our skin—these things and thousands of others tend to limit our options.
But there is another lie that is equally pernicious: the lie that you can’t do anything worthwhile. In one of my 12-step readings today, I read the following:
“Being the victim is, or was, uncomfortably familiar to many of us. Perhaps some of us are only now realizing we have choices, that we need not let life happen to us. Becoming responsible to ourselves, choosing behavior, beliefs, friends, activities, that please us, though unfamiliar at first, soon exhilarates us. The more choices we make, the more alive we feel. The more alive we feel, the healthier our choices.” (From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey)
And in my 3-minute retreat this morning, I read these words:
“Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:15, English Standard Bible)
The key for all of us is to turn from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue it.
Yesterday was an incredibly good day for me. Why? Because, I turned away from evil—not the evil in the world; only my own evil. I did some good things. I sought after and pursued peace, at least for the most part.
There is no reason that I can’t do the same today. No, I can’t “be anything I want.” But I can do something good. And if I do some good things, I will also be something good.
And if I seek and pursue peace, then peace might just find and overtake me.
“Spiritually Unexplored Country”
“Much of life is spiritually unexplored country.” (Twenty-Four Hours a Day: The Little Black Book, excerpt from today’s reading, July 3, 2019)
When I was a young boy growing up on a farm I southern Ohio, I didn’t have playmates or a lot of activities with which to occupy myself. So, I took up exploring. Exploring meant my mom fixing me a couple of mayonnaise sandwiches and a mason jar filled with grape Kool-aid. I would put them in an old, worn-out purse that my mom had kept. I would also usually include a New Testament and a small notebook and pencil to record maps and all my discoveries.
I gradually extended my range of exploring to the edge of our farm, and eventually, way beyond our farm. Later, when I told my mom how far I had gone as a little guy, she was a bit mortified—if you can be a bit mortified—by how far I had traveled in my peregrinations. I suspect that Columbus and other explorers had to wait until their mothers were dead before they set out.
As with all explorers, I have sometimes gotten lost. Sometimes, I have not treated my traveling companions with kindness and respect. Sometimes, I have not treated the lands or people I’ve discovered in a caring way. Sometimes, I’ve been abusive.
But I continue to explore. I value my fellow explorers much more now, and I treat the places, things, and people I discover with more kindness and respect.
God is infinite. That means that there are no boundaries to God. So, I plan to keep on exploring forever.
Crank out the mayonnaise, grape Kool-Aid, and my wife’s old purse. Today, I’m going exploring!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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- “The Process in Miracles and the Miracle of Process” March 11, 2024“2 Kings 5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids […]
- “The Power of Encouragement—Even for Old People” March 10, 2024“But encourage each other every day while it is ‘today.’ Help each other so none of you will become hardened because sin has tricked you.” (Hebrews 3:13, New Century Version) Yesterday, I was walking at a nearby park. There was a large group of young people some of whom were running while other young people […]
- “Endurance” March 10, 2024“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Hebrews 10:36, English Standard Version) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us […]
- “The Limits of Non-Judgmentalism” February 24, 2024“Matt. 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. Matt. 7:2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2, English Standard Version) This morning, in my virtual 12-step meeting, we discussed the topic of judgmentalism. There were many wise […]
- “Delighting in Being Told What to Do?!?” February 23, 2024“Psa. 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures […]
- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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