I must have missed something here in the communications of this forum(I come here often) but reading through the posts this reminds me of one of my favorite spiritual readings. For me, one who in the past, could not utter a sentence without an expletive or some form of a derogatory or demeaning statement and through daily practice found working in our Solution and with the Spirit of the God of my understandings guidance peace of the tongue and my heart(a continuous daily work) These writings tell me.. "But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil , full of deadly poison , With it ,WE bless our God and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of our God(of your own understanding)"It is evident, WE have tasted the illness of active addiction and with guidance(rules of the board thanks John) and mostly , God's spirit.....we come here to help each other in a loving and caring manner to the best of our ability. I stumble and fall daily but am truly aware of the need to instill in all areas of my life the spiritual principles to be worked each and every day I have been graced with LIFE...I will lift us "all" up in thought and prayer in my daily meditations ..WE allow that "peace that surpasses all understanding, to guard our hearts and minds in our God and More is continually being revealed. Have a blessed and productive day
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Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Thanks, Mike. As per our program, I try to be loving and caring (progress, not perfection however!). Things that help me do this: Step 10. Keeping my side of the street clean, because that's what I can control.
Thanks Mike for citing from James. Most of my troubles have been because of my tongue. When I find I cannot control it any more or it starts to cause trouble for me, I pray to God to take full control of my tongue. In the beginning I used to avoid communication with anyone- fasting of the tongue, but now I find it easier with practice. Daily 10th step work and 11th step prayer has brought this erring member under God's control.
I also have learned not to judge the other brother whose tongue is troublesome. He is a gentle reminder for me and I pray that he gets victory over the tongue. Sometimes my wife snaps at me and I use a single word to give me time to respond to her and that is "OK." 99% of time there is no rebuttle and it dies away into nothing. Now I have even learned to joke about it- very effect in keeping our love intact.
Thanks for sharing this with us. You are so right, I can't pursue a spiritual journey and live or be shady at the same time.. something has to give. Again, thanks.
Hey Mike,
Great post to get me thinking. I was at a meeting about a year ago having a discussion with someone before the start, and I swore about something. One of the women looked at me in horror and said "But you never swear. I've never heard you swear before" it was true, I don't usually swear around AA and I was quite embarrassed. Imagine that, me who could make sentences out of cuss words without saying anything constructive... Another character defect removed without my knowledge. Ha!
Still room for improvement on restraint of tongue and pen. Perhaps that's next on His list.
God bless
MikeH.
