If there is none, I try to remember that I too have had my periods of speaking bitterly of others that hurtful gossip is but a symptom of our remaining emotional illness and consequently that I must never be angry at the unreasonableness of sick people. “So, nowadays, if anyone talks of me so as to hurt, I first ask myself if there is any truth at all in what they say. My own resentment, my self-pity would often render me well-nigh useless to anybody. Yet every time I confessed the sins of such people, especially those whose sins did not correspond exactly with my own, I found that I only increased the total damage. “Just like you, I have often thought myself the victim of what other people say and do. I pray that my work may be a small repayment for His grace so freely given me. I pray that I may serve others out of gratitude to God. Express your love for God in service to all who are living with you in your Father’s house. There is much satisfaction in serving the highest that you know. Be ever ready to do all you can for others who need your help. Look at yourself as a servant in your father’s house, as a servant of all. Think of all people you meet as guests in you Father’s house, to be treated with love and consideration. Look at the world as your Father’s house. They finally realize that they have undergone a profound alteration in their reaction to life and that such a change could hardly have been brought about by themselves alone.” Is my outlook on life changing for the better? Quite often friends of newcomers are aware of the difference long before they are themselves. Most of our spiritual experiences are of the educational variety, and they develop slowly over a period of time. Choked with emotion, I had cried, but this time, when I received my son’s card, my tears were tears of joy, not desperation.Ĭontinuing the consideration of the term “spiritual experience”: “The acquiring of an immediate and overwhelming God-consciousness, resulting in a dramatic transformation, though frequent, is by no means the rule. It had been during the previous Christmas holidays, when he had said to me, while crying, “Dad, I love you! Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself?” I couldn’t. Happy Birthday, I love you.” My son had told me that he loved me before. It was a card from my son in college, saying, “Dad, you can’t imagine how glad I am that everything is okay. While on the road to recovery I received a gift that could not be purchased. Marvelous results often follow such a reunion. From that point on, progress will be rapid. In time they will see that he is a new man and in their own way they will let him know it. The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children.
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