Practicing Step Eleven

What our next step is to be

“We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems.”

-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 87

God, show me the way.  The AA and Al-Anon way of praying is very simple.  We ask God to show us the next indicated thing to do.  When I begin my day with prayer and meditation, the answers do come.  Sometimes it is in the quiet of the morning while I am in the middle of my time with God.  Sometimes it is in the car while I am on my way to work.  And sometimes it comes as a seemingly random inspiration in the middle of the day.  God is always there.  God is always guiding me. 

I have to be willing to practice the Eleventh Step to get this guidance on a daily basis.  To me, developing this spiritual habit was much like developing my other habits in early sobriety, like calling my sponsor.  My sponsor suggested that I call her every day.  I got in the habit of calling her every day, and, in this way, we got to know each other better.  We were developing that trust between us.  Then, when something went sideways, I was already in the habit of calling her, so it was not difficult to pick up the phone. 

The same is true in our relationship with our Higher Power.  When I work to develop that daily prayer and meditation muscle, I will know that God is there, picking up the telephone and saying hello, when I reach out to him in times of distress.  By the daily reaching out in prayer and meditation in the calm times, I will be so in the habit of this daily practice that I will keep doing it, even during my darkest times. 

Today’s Prayer

God, you are so steady and true.  Help me be steady in my practice of the Eleventh Step.  Higher Power, I know you want to help me in good times and in bad. 

This is the October 17 reading from my book of daily readings, With Gratitude: A Journey in Recovery.