Church of One Love

Acceptance, Change & Wisdom: The Serenity Prayer

This beloved prayer has been used in the recovery of countless people.  It very simply helps us to remember what is ours to change and what is not.  Then we can put our attention and energy into the places where healing is available— in ourselves, our outlook, our attitudes, our lives. Then we trust God to do God’s work and allow others the dignity of their own experiences and choices.

Be The Message

The essence of the 12^th  step is that we pass our healing on and not try to keep it to ourselves.  Unless we consistently practice these spiritual principles in every area of life, we’ll quickly forget and lose the progress we’ve made.    Being of service and leading by example-- sharing our experience, strength and hope with those we would serve-- is how we continue to grow in serenity, in spirit, in evolution.  We speak of what we were like in our suffering, what happened, what we learned and how we now live differently, in joy and freedom. 

Center in Spirit

In order to maintain our newfound spiritual freedom, we must keep in touch with ourselves—our Higher Self, our Higher Power, however we understand that to be.  Conscious connection keeps us from piling up more shame and blame and miscommunications and helps us keep ego in check.  As we do this our trust in God increases, as we realize that letting Spirit rule instead of Ego always gets us to a happier place. 

Clean Your Window

After we’ve taken a truthful, non-judgmental look at our lives, we clear the shame for what is not ours and take responsibility for what IS.  We become willing to make any amends needed to clear the slate in our relationships—with others and within ourself.  Then we take the action necessary to follow through. After that, we keep up daily in order to not let the junk pile up again.  We move thru’ life more smoothly, freely; we cease fighting what is, and find peace within.

Ready for Change

Once we have a clearer picture of what in our life has served us and what has held us prisoner, then we’re free to learn to live differently, if we so desire.  We ready ourselves through willingness and trust, and ask our higher power to help us to change what we can, even as we accept what we cannot change.

The Truth will Make You Free

In order to “recover” we must begin to see clearly who we have been, who we are, and who we want to be, so we “take stock” of the truth --without judgment.   We no longer take the weight of burdens that are not ours to carry, nor need to assign blame to others as we begin to deal with life as it IS not as we wish it to be.

 

Trust Something Greater

Step Two: “Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”

 

Admitting personal powerlessness allows us to activate a Higher Power in our lives. We can call that power by any name: God, Mother Nature, the Universe, the Sangha (group of spiritual peers), our Higher Self, the Buddha, or Fred.  It doesn’t matter what we name it, as long as we are willing to call on it.  To do so, we learn trust-- that it is good and for our good.

Surrender

Step one:  “We admitted we were powerless over _____, that our lives had become unmanageable.”   This step is about letting go of the thought that we can control anything outside ourselves.  We come to understand that in our humanness we never had “control” to begin with, so we only surrender our illusions, and have lost nothing at all. 

 

The Commonality of our Infinite Variety

At COOL our tagline is “Many Paths, One Spirit.”  What does that mean?  How can we all choose our own individual path, and yet come together each week in study, song, message, meditation, spiritual practice—in unity?  How can people across worlds and cultural divides and varying belief systems ever achieve peace and harmony?  For that matter, how can we even truly befriend someone who holds beliefs with which we strongly disagree?  By  finding the unity in the variety—the common threads that tie all of humanity.   What are they?  How can we activate them in our lives?

The Freedom of Choice

We all are free to choose how and what we think, believe and accept about ourselves, our world, and our place in it—to find our own answers to the questions our hearts ask.  When we exercise the power of choice we take full advantage of that freedom, and life gets really interesting and rewarding.  Or we can slip into ‘habit mind’ and fail to use our power of choice.  This week we will talk about how to keep choice in the forefront of our minds and lives so we can live a life of intentionality rather than one of default.