A trusted friend tells me what love is:
1-it is indiscriminate, it cannot choose such as the rose cannot choose who its scent is for, nor the lamp, whom its light should shine upon. This fellow says, as humans we must realize that no one sins or does wrong in awareness. This sin or wrong-doing can only happen out of illness. Therefore to blame is wasted effort. God's creature is good although its behaviour may be wrong. Love em all we are taught. Persons visiting the sick (addicted/mentally ill) or imprisoned know that their love for these damaged beings is useless when the crime/sickness is considered in any way.
2-see our our love for what it really is (selfishness-what do we do that is not really to make us feel better-be honest because only what we do beyond this can be even remotely LOVING). What do I do for emotional gratification and what/whose needs do I ignore as I avoid the sick who trigger discomfort in me? I must be careful here about motivation behind my boundary setting!
3-Love is unaware of itself and has no object as the rose and the light simply are. Effort to love, coercion, control and conflict exist in place of love; love dies as these come on the scene!
The same writer believes that love can only exist in freedom and that in essence freedom is another word for love!!
And so to come close to this person's ideals we need prayer for the strength of character to share our freedom and Spiritual growth with those in need. With absolutely no hope of personal gain whatsoever (emotional or otherwise) we take ourselves (wounds healing) to the needy and reach out. "Oh Lord, guide and direct us to those who need our stories to know a hope that will free him/her from the sense of doom! Give us words, actions, deeds, whatever it takes to start these poor souls on the road to love!"
Now out into the world alert and ready to share!
AA big book talking of Step 12 says "That's all there is to it. If you've made conscious contact with the God of your understanding and you have started listening to guidance, you have in fact, already had a Spiritual awakening. Congratulations you are now living in the sunlight of the Spirit!"
Others will see evidence of the Spiritual change in you but DON'T LOOK FOR IT!
12 Steps to Spiritual Recovery!
1- We admitted we were powerless over others-that our lives had become unmanageable.
2- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of that Power.
4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5- Admitted to this Power, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6- Were entirely ready to have this Power remove all these defects of character.
7- Humbly asked the Power to remove our shortcomings.
8- Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11- Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with this Power, praying only for knowledge of His/Her will for us and the power to carry that out.
12- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(Many 12 step programs use the word God where we have written Power)
Various Claims of Promise from 12 Steppers
1-We will find ourselves worthy of love and able to love others. We will not lose ourselves.
2-Courage and fellowship will replace fear.
3-Our lives will yield hope to share with others.
4-We will come to know the vastness of our emotions without being in slavery to them.
5-Learning to forgive, we will no longer be bound by our secrets to live in shame.
6-Serenity and peace will have meaning for us.
7-We will allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with spiritual ease, balance and grace.
8-Attitude and outlook will be renewed.
9-Intuition will guide us to handle situations that were impossible in the past.
10-We will not regret the past recognizing its value for other sufferers.
11-Selfish interests will fall away as we gain interest in others.
12-Faith and gratitude will replace fear as we realize that a Greater Power is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
