Spiritual Tools

When my first husband died, he had been in AA for just over one year.

I inherited his little black book "Twenty-Four Hours A Day" which continues to give me what I have never been able to acquire by going to church - a spiritual program that helps me to keep in good relationship with my self, with others, and with God.

Sometimes my life gets too busy; and I make the big mistake of drifting away from the daily reading of this book. It's no coincidence that my spiritual life suffers immensely when this happens.

The last couple of months have been horrific for me as my ever- increasing fears, doubts, and resentments caused me to lose touch with the spiritual tools I had access to.

So, to remind myself and to share with others who may be interested, I am including the twelve steps of A.A. which I have adapted slightly for my personal use.

1. I admit that I am powerless over other people ; and that my life has become unmanageable.

2. I believe that a Power greater than myself can restore me to sanity.

3. I turn my will and my life over to God as I understand Him.

4. I make a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.

5. I admit to God, to myself, and to another human being, the exact nature of my wrongs.

6. I am entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. I humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings.

8. I make a list of all persons I have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all.

9. I make direct amends wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. I continue to take personal inventory and when I am wrong promptly admit it.

11. I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, I try to practice these principles in all my affairs.

A Little Rambling

Has it really been that long since I posted on my favorite blog. Where did those months go?

I'm sitting here trying to retrace my steps. September...........

I finished up at the Farmer's Market and then sold most of my pickles at the Fall Fair, Of all the food and craft sales we have, the Fall Fair is my favorite. Pumpkins, scarecrows, apples, orange colors, harvest, people, life...............

I took in as many of the craft sales as I possibly could until I got sick in November. Barely recuperated in time to go to Toronto to spend Christmas with my son and his wife. My sister and I took the train which was nice. It has been years since I travelled by train; and I enjoyed it immensely.

I hope to never have to fly again. I hate it.

I don't SAY that I am never going to fly again though, because I know if I did, the universe would put something in my path that would leave me no other alternative. So I content myself with saying I hope to never have to do it again.

I arrived back home early in January with full-blown pneumonia which took all month to shake. The worst part of that though is that it left me no chance to catch up to myself. All the piles of paperwork - all the half-finished crafts - all the getting ready for Christmas mess - just sitting there - overwhelmingly!

So here it is - Spring! It came upon me before I even had a chance to hibernate. And I feel it.

Life is FULL. Fuller than it has been since my husband died. And I am loving it. There is nothing I wish to give up to claim more space for myself.

So I take life One Day At A Time focusing on "What's the next most important thing to do?" at the same time checking in with myself to be sure this is something I really wish to do.

And that brings me to today. Thanks to my friend down yonder for jiggling my chain and reminding me to sit myself down at my computer and let my thoughts begin to flow.

An unexamined life...............