Set Your Sails Every Morning and Let Higher Power Steer – Blind Dave A.

My name is Norm. I'm a real alcoholic. And, uh, excuse me. No, I'm fine. Um, Dave and I are going to take turns. I'm going to start out talking about Letting God Lead, which is the name of our workshop. And then he's going to come in and wrap it up at the end. So, let's get started. When I think of letting God lead, You know, I think of prayer, meditation, and guidance. Because that's how we communicate with our higher power is in that way. Now, he can communicate with us in many ways. But that's How We Begin. And so, you know, what is guidance? The dictionary definition is to be guided as if you were blind. Not him, but y'all. And to get direction. I bought Dave a painting one time and don't go there but anyway, I bought him a painting and it's of a ship on the waters. It's a really beautiful painting and with the painting I have a poem posted on our living room wall and the poem says this One ship drives east another drives west With the selfsame wind that blows Tis the set of the sails and not the gales which tells the way it goes. So how I set myself every day is going to determine which way I'm going to go. And for that, I need my prayer, my meditation, my guidance, and my God. So I've heard it said that prayer is talking, meditation is listening. The big book talks about asking God to direct our thinking. We sure don't want the world to go with enormous thinking because I'll tell you when I'm God, everybody dies, you know. And what we learn is not just meditation, but there's a thing called guided meditation. There's a lot of different ways to meditate. But what meditation really is, is it's thinking about something and giving all your focus to that. Do you know that worry is meditation? It's just meditating on something that has a fear base. It's obsession. but it's still a form of meditation. It's giving all your thoughts to that one person, place, situation thing that's troubling you. The big book says that we were thinking of what we could do for others what we can pack into the stream of life we have to be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection. Why? Every step tells you this because it would diminish our usefulness to others. The difference between worrying and meditating is always the source. It's fear-based or faith-based. And are we listening for the voice of God? Are we listening to those other voices? I know you have them. And, you know, the big book says that we became less and less interested in our little plans and designs, more and more we became interested in what we could contribute to life. God's plan, not mine. And I don't know what God's plan is if I don' t start my day by asking God to direct my thinking. So what can you meditate on? Well, you can meditate on God, on your relationship with God. You can meditate on spiritual readings. Some people just pick one sentence, one paragraph out of the big book and meditate on it for a while. And that's a way of gaining spiritual insight. It says, we ask God to direct our thinking and under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance for after all God gave us brains to use. And you know the first evidence that I have found of guided meditation or meditation is in Bill's story when he's on the hospital bed. And Bill had just accepted God and experienced surrender. And he'd had his first real spiritual experience and he says, while I lay in the hospital, the thought came that there must be thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what was so freely given to me. Now did that thought come from Bill or did it come from God? I don't think we would all be here today if it was all up to Bill. And so our recovery life, our very recovery life began with Bill's surrender, his prayer and his meditation. And later in the book it talks again about this kind of thinking. It says those of us who live in large cities were overcome by the reflection that close by hundreds are dropping into oblivion every day. Many could recover if they had the opportunity we have enjoyed. How then shall we present that which has been given so freely to us? So the people who wrote the big book were reflecting and thinking about those if they could help. On page 85 it says, How can I best serve thee? Thy will, not mine be done. These thoughts must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line, all we wish it is the proper use of the will and then on page 159 it talks about constantly thinking how you can present your recovery, your discovery to some newcomer, people coming into a meeting, experiencing you know, all the brightness the hope, the life of AA and when they leave, they're thinking how can I present this to someone else, that's what they recorded back in the first 100, when the first 100 wrote the book. Now, why do you think we need meditation? Well, one reason is it says our thought life will be placed on a higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives. Anybody have wrong motives in here? Okay. Get away from her. No. I don't trust my own motives. I have never been able to trust my own motives, it's amazing how warped our thinking can get, past experience shows me that, I have to have God, you know and I want my thinking not to be on Norma plane but on God plane and you know freedom is never doing whatever I want we've already proved where freedom of self will got us you know, my best thinking, hey Freedom is really doing what is the right thing. But I can't do that without guidance from God. That's just the raw truth. And, you know, guidance is not self-knowledge, it's intuitive knowledge. Self-knowlege, we've already found that, you knows, goes only so far. We have to be directed by an intelligence that is not our own. And it can't be manufactured within me of my own will. The big book says, in thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. You know, if you're trying to wrestle satisfaction and happiness out of life, you can't relax and taketheasy. If you're still thinking that you're in control and that it's up to you. You can't relax and take it easy. You have to be convinced that there is a power beyond your own that can and will come into your life situation and guide you to do what is the right thing. We don't struggle. We are often surprised, I don't know why, but we are often surprise how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. You see, there's two worlds. There's the world of fear and self-will and there's the world of the great reality. And, you know, if I'm looking at life through eyes of fear, we have, you now, the disease of perception. If I'm look at my situations through eyes or resentment, if I am looking through eyes self-pity and victimization, then I have a warped reality. and I desperately need the great reality that is God. And so it says, if we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent, we have become God-conscious. We have begun TO DEVELOP this vital sixth sense. and the vital sixth sense is, you know, we can perceive much of the world through our ordinary senses, through our eyes, ears, you know. Through our mind. We gain a lot of information. We can read a lot books. We can watch a lot movies, you now. And that's book knowledge. That's self-knowledge. But the knowledge we get from God is very different. It comes from a different source. It is not earthly, it is not worldly. It is something much closer to what I'd like to call wisdom. And it is what our literature terms intuitiveness or guidance. So, how do you know that what you get is from God? But, well, all I can say is it takes experience. And you will get to know the voice of God. It will become familiar. And it talks about, you know, what used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. You know, we are partners in this thing. We live in the world of the Spirit. You may think you live in a material world. I think it's an illusion. Albert Einstein said that. To think that we are all separate is an illusion because I think we are all connected through our spirit and through the spirit of God. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption of all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it. And, you know, there's a quote in the 12 and 12 that says, quite often, the thoughts that seem to come from God actually is just our unconscious rationalization well intentioned but you know it's really distorted distorted so called guidance Dave can quote that better than I can later on but it's Really Wishful Thinking is what it is and it's really important when we think we have something from God go check with your sponsor find out exactly what kind of a good idea it is you know so So, it says after the promises that the promises will always materialize if we work for them. This thought, what thought? The work, the directions. This thought brings us to step 10 which suggests we continue to take personal inventory, that's the work, and set right any new mistakes as we go along. That's amends. vigorously commence this way of living as we clean up the past, we have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. And how? Well, two ways, I think. You know, continuing your inventory, your prayer, your meditation, and your service. That is how I grow in understanding effectiveness. I'm not going to spiritually grow sitting at home in front of a TV. You know, we have to get out in the world. We have to be around other people. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once, at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately. We make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. It looks like that part of growth has to do with how fast we take the action. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. That's step 12. But it says turning our thoughts, so is some of that meditation as well. How can I best serve thee? Love and tolerance of others is our code. I always wondered why they put that in. Well, it's because we're around sick people, not well people. And that's going to take some love and tolerance. We need to keep the doors of AA open, not slam them shut with our criticism, our intolerance, and our inability to put ourselves back in that place where we first came in. That's humility. We have ceased fighting anything or anyone, even alcohol. For by this time, sanity will have returned. Remember when Bill was in the hotel room? And there was the bar and the girls in the bar and the jingling of glasses. And here he was, you know, he was not in a good position that day, you now. He couldn't even pay his bill in the hotel room. And things had gone wrong and he really wanted to drink. And he was pacing back and forth. And he took some action. And the minute he took that action, his sanity returned and he thanked God. And then, you know, our way of life began. So, I want to talk a little bit about what keeps you from hearing God. There's a lot of challenges. You know, here we are, irritable restless and discontent. We're supposed to meditate, right? We don't know how to sit on the couch for five minutes, but, you know, there are some challenges to developing a relationship with God. And there are four that I see in my own life. And one of the challenges is our lifestyle. Today we're very busy. We're hurried. Our life can be cluttered physically or mentally. And we're activity junkies. You know, some people can be service junkies to the bad end of it, not the good end of it because they lack finding that balance between what you can do and what you should do at this time in your life. We were just talking about that before the meeting, you know, finding the right balance for you at this times in your lives. It's not saying not to do service. It is saying there are lots of different kinds of service and there are responsibility levels. You know, I don't agree with putting someone very new in a position where there is a lot of responsibility or if they fail at those responsibilities they too embarrassed to come back in to the fellowship, you know. But anyway, our greatest challenge is to keep a simple life. One that is focused on developing character, not content. Not too many things to do, but are you good at what you're doing now? Because you have made the time for it effectively. The next challenge is finding time alone. Most of us don't know how to be alone. We're constantly with other people, with our family, with our kids, true, you know, that's part of life, but you know the hustle and the bustle, making the demands to be here and there to meet with this person or that person and some of us are scared to be along. It's uncomfortable to be right there with the thoughts in your head but until you have that experience of trying to find God through prayer and meditation all you're going to have is your own thoughts it's kind of like swimming, you've got to jump in and do it sometimes so in the midst of a busy life, finding that time alone, you have to plan for it and finding quiet, we're a noisy lot you know, radios CD players, iPods TVs, telephones, videos, DVDs and people you know I'm a kindergarten teacher I know about noise okay so when was the last time you had a time and a place where you were silent and alone that you could sit down and hear the voice of your God it does have to be planned or it's not going to happen and then there's being able to surrender control of your life you know if you sit then you pray, but then you go off and do it your way. You know? Then you're not letting God lead. And we have to surrender to something besides our self, besides our fear, or it's just not going to happen. There's a quote out of the 12 in 12 that I love. And I'm going to read it for you. It says, and this is about step 11. Now and then we may be granted a glimpse into that ultimate reality, which is God's kingdom. And we will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will of our own creator. As we have seen, self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action and grace to bear on the dark and negative side of our nature it is a step in the development of that kind of humility which allows us to receive God's help you know what are the things that are going to allow you to receive from God these are the kind of things that we're talking about my experiences with prayer and meditation I've gotten a lot of comfort from God in trying times. I know I've heard many people talk about they were having difficulties. Some people even when they were first getting sober, but it doesn't always have to be then. And we would go to God with that and then we would feel a peace or a comfort or just that knowing that you can just be still and know that there is a God. And I have sometimes gotten an inspiration of exactly what to do in that moment that I needed some real guidance in a situation where I needed to make a quick decision and I can call on God and expect to get an answer. And there are times where I heard something I didn't want to hear from God You know, one time I was being dishonest with my husband. Don't tell me you've never been dishonest to someone because I'm not going to believe it. No. And it had to do with money, with finances, because he had the checkbook and I didn't. And so he would give me money for groceries, for gas. He would buy me lots of nice things, but I didn't have any of my own money. Girls, you understand this, don't you? And so he's not understanding the problem. Plus, he wants to spend all the money on the car and the motorcycle. Well, I want to spend the money in other things, you know. My new skirt, stuff like that. I'm making fun of this, but this is a serious division between us. And I remember him sitting in front of the fireplace, praying, meditating, wanting to hear from God. Because you see, in the midst of this resentment, I started hoarding money that he didn't know about because he was blind. So, you know, he can't read the mail. He can't reading my paycheck. He doesn't know what extra stuff is coming in, you now. So here I was, in my anger, being dishonest. Not telling him everything and kind of, you know, making a big mess of things. And I had talked to my sponsor at the time about it. She said, you need to tell him. And I said, I'm not willing to. She said well then you need pray about it so that's what I was doing. and in this guidance, loud and clear, came the direction. Go tell your husband. And I loud and clearly, out loud said no. But there is one aspect to your relationship with God and that is not to have selective hearing but to have willingness to trust Him that if you hear from God and you know that you hear from God, how many of you have had those little urges, those little things in your heart that told you not to do something and you went ahead and did it anyway? Then you have to drag your butt over to God and say oh sorry you told me. Well this was one of those times and to be willing to be honest to be able to make amends And so I went in, and it was hard. I'll be honest, it was embarrassing, humiliating to have to go tell him what I had been doing. He was very kind. And he said, you know, I'm sorry I put you in this position because in the past I have had other people drive me to practically bankruptcy with their use of finances. But I haven't given you a chance. to prove it any other way. And he handed me the checkbook. And I went wild for about three months. And then I came to my senses. And what I meant was I spent a lot of money on me and not very much on our family. Then I began to ask him, well, what do you need? Do you need some new T-shirts? Do you want a new harmonica? You know, what money should I put aside? and I found the balance between responsibility and privilege. But it started with guidance, with seeking counsel from other people, my sponsor of the day, and for being willing to follow through. And one time I did guidance with a girlfriend. We were both having a difficult time. I was having some problems with one son and she was unable to find work for about a year. She couldn't find work. And every morning we called each other and did guidance and prayer together. I've done that more than once with friends and it is an incredible experience of what we both heard, each heard from God and shared that. It was needed support. I utilize prayer and meditation It is a working part of my life. I humbly rely on God for strength, guidance, resources, inspiration, all those things. And Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob, I'm not going to go into this, but they had a way of prayer and meditation, and it was guided meditation that they did every single morning with their family. It's two-way prayer. And so, you know, the more you do this meditation, you have a lingering sense of the presence of God in your mind and heart. There's an intimacy there. It's a very residual effect. If you don't get it, do it regularly, what you get is a residual effect of self and self-will. so at this point I'm going to now bring Dave in to talk about his experience, strength and hope on letting God lead and hopefully he will talk about how you pull together 10, 11 and 12 or whatever thank you It will be good, whatever. I'm going to put the recorder up. Cool. And I'm in a close, so don't forget that. Oh yeah, well you'll have to say something to me about the time. Very good. I want you to know that in getting ready to do this workshop we did not compare notes or talk to each other. So you may hear some of the same things. it is good reinforcement but before i'm blind dave oh i was going to say for the tape but it okay alcoholic y'all amen um letting god lead that's what they ask us to speak on which naturally most people is going to interpret as meaning our step 11 improving your conscious contact with God, getting in a place where what's becoming talked about a lot is guided meditation. As I was preparing for this, what I felt like God wanted me to really emphasize, and if you want to look at page 100 of the big book, second paragraph, you don't have to turn there if you don' t want to, I'll read it to you. But it says, both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress if you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands was better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of the higher power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world no matter what your present circumstance. So we have here where it talks about following. Now, we're talking about letting God lead. And it says here, follow the dictates of your higher power. And it's very important for us to know what those are because it's the same for every one of us. This is not talking about what does God want me to do today? Believe it or not, that's not what this is talking about. And I'm going to cover that first of all. Because it says, the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands. There is a process of putting yourself in God'S hands that has to transpire before there's any leading and following. So I want to talk about that some a little bit. So the big book says this in chapter 4. It says, Here are thousands of men and women and worldly in deed. They flatly declare that after they've come to believe in a power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that power and to do certain simple things. There's been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the faceof the total failure of their human resources, they found a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them. So there it is. The power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction. After they took a certain attitude toward that power and did certain simple things and those are the things required to put yourself in God's hands before even this experience of a sense of direction and a power and a peace and a sense OF DIRECTION will come to you. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about first of all, putting yourself in God's hands. And it begins with step 3. The first paragraph I believe on page 63. Step 3. We made a decision to turn our will and life over to the care of God as we understood Him. When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. Now didn't we read back here on page 100 that all sorts of remarkable things were going to happen? Well, it began right here. Step 3. When we sincerely made this decision to turn our will and life over to the care of God, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new employer being all-powerful, He provided what we needed if there's a price. If we kept close to Him and performed His work well. And if any of you ever sit and listen to me speak on any subject, I'm going to start here or I'm gonna bring it back to here. Because everything, This all-powerful being bringing all His power to bear upon my life to provide whatever I need and to remove all my difficulties is for a reason. That I can bear witness to those I am to help of His power, love, and of His way of life. And the decision that I'm supposed to make at step three is He will do this if... Oh, hi. He will do this if I will agree to do this. Now I heard Regina speak yesterday how her thing with God all in the time of the past was always, if I do this, God will do it for me. If I be good, God would do this for me, you know And we know that don't work. But this is not what we're talking about here. But step three is about us entering into an agreement with God. That's what your decision is. Do you want to agree to these terms? Page 28 of the big book says, All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try There are terms to forming a relationship with God. And they're right here on page 63. God makes it clear, I do this if you agree to do this. So the ball is in your court. And what I have to decide if I want to agree to is if I'm going to agree to keep close to Him and perform His work well, which paraphrases into our primary purpose to stay sober and help another alcoholic to achieve sobriety. But, you know, and I've had people say, Dave, that's all you talk about. You bring everything back to that. And I said, that's because there ain't nothing else. Read it. Everything that all powerful will provide for me and His promise to do so is connected to this big if. I've had people say Dave, I have issues outside the scope of this program I said what is outside the scope of his program read it again all powerful will provide whatever if I will keep close to him and perform his work well and there's nothing else but now we need to look at what those two things are I'll keep close to Him and perform His work well. And it goes on right after that to say, established on such a footing. I better be established on the clear understanding of what the terms of my experience with God are based on and nothing else. Established on this footing. we become less and less interested in ourselves our little plans and designs see that's why I quit running the show more and more we become interested in seeing what we can do to contribute to help out around here why? because all powerful has agreed to manage my life if I've agreed to do that so of course if I want all that benefit I better start caring about you a little bit I learned that when I got on the giving end of you, I got one the receiving end of God. And established on this footing, we become less and less interested in ourselves. More and more we become interested in seeing what we can do to contribute. And it says, as we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered this is how you face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we begin to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. I want you to know that fear has a voice. I wantyou to knowthat the presence of God in His serenity has a voice also. Before you ever put a voice to fear, you feel it, don't you? And if you sit there and feel it for a while, you start hearing all kinds of thoughts. and when you feel the presence of God in His serenity thoughts will come out of that it has a voice so what I need to do is be able to feel that power peace, happiness and sense of direction flow in it has the power it has that voice so what I've agreed to is to keep close to Him and perform His work well and there ain't nothing else. But there's a lot to that. And what I've agreed to do is spend the rest of my life learning what that is and how our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. I can spend my lifetime growing and keeping close to Him and performing His work well. So, that was my step three decision. And I want you to know that the rest OF the steps is my training and teaching and education in how to do that. I do steps 4 through 9. That's my initial effort just to get close to God. To clean up, clean house and remove the things that would block me from this experience. Steps 4 through 8 Steps 5 through 9 get me close to god. Step 10, 11 and 12 are the steps by which I keep close to Him and perform His work well. Steps 10, 11, and 12. So my third step agreement was to agree to get through these steps and then learn how to live on a daily basis in step 10,11, and12. That's what I've agreed to do. So I commence out on this step 4 and 5, cleaning house, removing the blocks. And when I'm doing fifth step with my sponsors, One of the things I tell them, I say, first of all, let me tell you this. The big book says, Bill Wilson said, belief in the power of God plus enough willingness, honesty, and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things are the essential requirements. All of the steps are designed as an ego deflating process. Because when I deflate my ego, I let God in. When I inflate my ego I push God out. And I said, right here at step five, you're having the biggest ego deflation experience in your step work so far. And I says, and because of that, you and God are starting to draw closer together in proximity. Whether you feel it or not, it's happening. And I say, so right now as we do your fifth step, I want you to know that you're becoming closer and closer to God. Your prayers are going to start from this day forward to have more effect. don't take prayer lightly. So I always say we're going to pray for the people who, you know, sometimes in our deep dark secrets we drug people into it with us. Or they drug us into it with them. So anybody that was involved partners in crime, we're gonna pray for those people that God would begin to start some kind of a process to help them get free from all the guilt and shame and fear that they live in as well. So a step five for me is a prayer time that I involve them in. And a lot of their healing takes place in praying for those people. But that's because step five is deflating my ego and me and God are getting closer together. And the promises after step five, you know, in there it says, we begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. See, this thing about a new power, peace, happiness and sense of direction is starting to happen through the steps. And then it says we thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we know Him better. And then we do some more work and we make that amends list and we get over here to step 8 and 9 and now they're getting ready to make amends. And I say, now looky here. In step 9, it says on page 77, it says at the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. Have you ever wondered? You know, when I did step 9 I thought yeah, I'm trying to putting my life in order and clean up the wreckage from the past and all of a sudden the big book says yeah, but that's not really the big thing that's going on here. the big thing it seemed pretty big to me but the big thing that's going on here is that somehow this process is further equipping me to be of maximum service to God and the people about me and I didn't understand that until I got over to page 79 and in page 79 it says although these reparations take innumerable forms there are some general principles which we find guiding clue in on the word guiding there are some general principles which we find guiding I'm trying to remember how it goes on from there somebody turn to page 79 real quick there are Some General Principles Reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any lengths to find a spiritual experience Step nine is about going deeper into this spiritual experience. Reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any lengths to find a spiritual experience, we ask that we be given strength and direction to do the right thing no matter what the personal consequences may be. We may lose our position, our reputation or face jail but we are willing this is about going deeper into this experience of feeling god's guidance getting to know the voice of god and i tell them i say back there on step five i said you were having to muster the most willingness honesty and humility you've had to musters so far and because of that you were getting close enough to god that you your prayers was going to start having more effect I said, that's all true up until you get to step nine. I said when you have to go and make face-to-face amends with people, you're going to... I'm not talking about groveling. I'm talking about humility. I'm taking about having to get gut level honest with yourself about your part and what you need to say. And I said because of the depth of willingness, honesty, and humility that it's going to take for you to make these amends, you are now getting even closer to God because of the state of humility. Now you can begin to feel His guidance. Don't miss out on the opportunity to school yourself in your immense process. The whole thing is about we have provided a state of humanity and willingness and honesty here for you to get close enough to God to get your first taste of the voice of intuition. The voice of God. This is where you might begin to say, oh, there it is! Don't ever go out and start making amends that you don't sit down... I loved the talk yesterday about the amends. I always wanted to say ask God. Ask God. I don't tell my sponsees. I might let them bounce it off of me later, but I say you ask God! You sit there with pen and paper and let God get involved in this with you. God, who should I do first? Okay. When should I go? What should I say? You will. If you've got the willingness, honesty, and humility to do this, you will feel God come into that with you and so step nine is really where you begin to train yourself to get familiar with the voice of His presence. And that experience will go with you. And some of us have a mountain of amends to have to make, no doubt, and it's a scary mountain to climb. But I want you to know if you do it right, you're going to be climbing the mountain of God. and when you get to the top of that mountain and you're saying okay I'm at step 10 it's no wonder it says you have entered the world of the Spirit we vigorously step 10 this thought brings us to step 10 which suggests that we continue to take yeah continue to make continue to set right see that that amend stuff is what keeps you in a state of being able to receive God's guidance. See, I'm talking about putting yourself in God's hands and then letting God lead. This humility, this making amends thing and asking God, what do I need to say? How do I needs to go about this? You know, you can screw up an amends. And you can do a beautiful amends too that will be a spiritual experience. It comes down to how much do you let God into it. And so we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along, and that continues to put me in a place to continue to grow in this experience of getting to know God's voice. So now we're at step 10, 11, and 12, and here's how we keep close to Him and perform His work well. We vigorously commence this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty and resentment. If you let that go, forget about hearing from God. And when we do these guidance kind of things, you know, these Step 11 kind of workshops, everybody wants to come and learn how to hear the voice of God. And I say, well, we're going to talk about making amends. It's sad how many people in recovery have put the importance on making the amends Forget it. You ain't going to learn to hear nothing from God until you have first established how to continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right. Because without that, the ego is back in it. So we continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. we continue to ask God at once to remove and discuss it with someone immediately. And I like what Norma said, getting faster and faster at it. Quicker and quicker to respond. And resolutely turn your thoughts to someone you can help. That's the performing His work well. So every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all our activities. How can I best serve Thee? Thy will, not mine, be done. These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our willpower along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. Notice it says along this lines. It did not say along these lines. It did NOT say along THOSE lines. It said along THIS LINE. What line are we talking about? Being of maximum service to God and the people about me. And that particularly means in the fellowship. And that's what step 9 said back there. Our real purpose in this amends stuff is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God. And you can't be without having some kind of ability to be guided by God and led by that voice. And we can exercise ourselves along this line all we wish. It's the proper use of the will. So, step 10 ends by saying if we have carefully followed directions, we've begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent, we've become God consciousness. We've begunto develop this vital sixth sense. It's all about that. Why? To be of maximum service. All this inventory stuff is my schooling to get to know the voice of God because it demands the kind of humility that allows it to spark and give birth to that experience. Step 11, sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God. So, it says, when we retire... Now remember, step 10. We continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to... There's four things I watch for. And there's four things I do about them. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately. We make them as quickly as we want. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. So we come to step 11. When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful? Selfish? Dishonest? Afraid? I say, hey, hey. Wait a minute. This is a repeat of step 10. They switch the order around a little bit, but it's the same four things. Why do they call this step 11? Why do we want to just kind of reorder step 10 and call it step 11. It's the samething. And then step 11 says, Do we owe an apology? Step 10 said, We made amends quickly if we harmed anyone. Step 11 says are we keeping something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Step 10 says we discuss it with someone immediately. Step 11 says we're kind and loving toward all. Step 10 said love and tolerance of others is our code. What are we thinking of ourselves most of the time? We're thinking of what we can do for others. Step 10 says we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. I said this is just step 10 over again. Why do they want to call it step 11? Well, the next sentence tells you after making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. There's that amend stuff again. This is where I humble myself to where I can say what would you like me to do about that, God? And begin to feel God's guidance. I can't feel it or find it without the state of humility. I inquire after I've been practicing step 10 for a while and getting quicker and quicker and getting better at this amends and a little faster at it there comes a point at which I'm starting to get familiar particularly as I'm winding up step 9 and getting it kind of done I tell people this if my job is to keep close to him and perform His work well and there ain't nothing else. Two things. Why do I need three steps to do two things? 10, 11, and 12. I don't. I start off with step 10. It says we vigorously commence this step 10 as we cleaned up the past. See, while I'm doing step 9, I'm practicing step 10, but as I'm finishing up step 9 and asking God to go with me and all that and getting to know the voice of God through my step 9 hard work, hard work. Step 9 and I'm finishing up and I am getting to know the Voice of God. And when I finish step 9, my step 10 just automatically metamorphoses into a step 11. The only difference between 10 and 11, they look the same except step 11 now includes from here on it says we inquire what corrective measures should be taken. In the morning we ask God to direct our thinking. If we face indecision We ask God for inspiration, intuitive thought, a decision. As we go through the day, we pause in agitated or doubtful and ask God For The Right Thought. Step 11 is when all of a sudden I've got to know the voice of God. Step 10 becomes step 11 when I have got familiar with the voice of God or the voice of intuition. It's not always words in my head. It's a feeling that guides me. But words usually form around that feeling. And so step 10 just transforms into a step 11 as I go through the 9 and 10 process. Step 9 and10 process. And all of a sudden, one day, I've grown up in this program and now I am living in step 11 and 12, 11 and12, 11 and twelve, keeping close to Him and performing His work well, being maximum service to God and the people about me. I've learned how to ask God what to do in these situations. You know, where step 10 said, when these crop up? Step 11 begins to teach me, don't wait until the crab hits the fan. It begins to teaching me to start establishing some discipline. Step 11 ends by saying, we alcoholics are in discipline. We let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined. And step 11 is beginning to outline some disciplines. And it's the evening and morning time with God. My evening review and inventory. My get up in the morning and suit up and ready to be of service and asking God to guide my day. And so that's another thing that helps step 10 to mature into a step 11 is me beginning to establish these disciplines. My evening time of review and inventory, my get up in the morning and have my reading, my quiet time, my reporting to God and my getting in a place where I'm kind of tender to the presence of God. Now, I am not the kind of person who does long silent meditations. I can't seem to get there. I just don't do that. But I tell you what I do. I open my big book and when I read my bigbook, I read it meditatively. And while I'm reading, I'm listening. And the reason I can hear God while I am reading is because I did my inventory the night before and I am willing to make any amends that need to be made. I am in a state. I am positioned to receive guidance. And I open up my big Book and start reading and you will be surprised I start jotting down notes. Notes. I speak a lot. And God gives me lots of stuff to share. I hope you can tell that. And it comes from living in this state of keeping my inventory in place because that keeps me positioned to receive God's guidance. I don't say, well, I'm going to sit here until God says something. I make sure I've done my inventory I open my book I read I take notes I do all that kind of stuff I spend lots of meditative time with the book in my lap when I close the book I will say ok God is there anything else you want to say to me today and I will usually spend about two minutes if I'm in that place and God's got anything else He wants to say He says it right then if I haven't heard something from God within a half a minute I know He's not going to speak probably but I will sit there for my two minutes anyway what I want you to understand is that the evening don't start trying to practice morning meditation in here and getting to know God's voice no not if you haven't first established the habit of your evening review because that's what sets the stage for it the evening review I hear people say If I get up and go start my day and haven't done my morning prayers, boy, my day is just not the same. I want you to know that... Have you ever wondered why Step 11 when it's going to give us instructions for a 24-hour period, it says in the evening... Why don't you start with the morning and end with the evening? That's because I set the stage for tomorrow tonight. I thought it was interesting. You know, when I used to read the Bible and it would say God created and there was evening and morning the first day and then there was evening and morning in the second day and then THERE WAS EVENING AND MORNING THE THIRD DAY. That's kind of weird. And because of that, the Jewish people begin their day the evening before. Their Sabbath begins at 6 p.m. Friday because of THAT thing in Genesis. I want you to know the same is true in the big book. My day begins this evening. my inventory tonight is my first investment to tomorrow. Let's don't neglect it. It's way too neglected. Now and then we may be granted the twelve and twelve. Now and them we may granted a glimpse into that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom. And we will be comforted and assured that our security in that realm that our destiny in that room will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will of our own Creator. Oh, I love that. It let me know that if I'm trying... Too many people don't try because they're afraid they're going to make a mistake. No, if you're trying, you can't make a mistakes that God can't catch you on. So, don't be afraid of trying. However falteredly we're secure, as long as we're trying. So remember to practice your discernment, getting to know the voice of God by doing your inventory, humbling yourself, and asking God what corrective measures need to be taken, and then quit to make those amends. That keeps you in a position to get to know the voice of God. Then in the morning, get up and ready to go. So... Now, I've got to close with this. Quite often, the 12 in 12 says this, quite often, however, is anybody in a hurry for me to shut up? I'm almost done. Okay. Quite often however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking or the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. I do not suggest that you begin starting to practice your guidance on things like, God, should I ask her for a date? God, should I buy a Harley? That's not a good place to start. because of the unselfish nature of service work. Twelve-step work betters my chance because it's an unselflish thing. It's a self-sacrificing thing. Service work betters my chance for true guidance. The training ground to get to know the voice or the feel of the guidance of the presence of God, that power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction. It starts in two places and this is why I'm hammering this today. Your inventory positions your heart and mind to be in a safe place to discern the voice of God. Service work. Keep close to Him and perform His work well. service work to this day I hear from God constantly it's nearly all tell him this say this there speak this say this see that write that down go say this you know when they ask me to do this workshop I'll sit down and say well okay gosh gee what am I and then the gate opened up and for three days I've hardly slept because God has been pumping me full of this now he still hadn't told me if He wants me to go on a picnic today. Or any of that. God doesn't talk to me a whole lot about my personal life. He manages that, you know. I tell people I'm on a need-to-know basis and most of the time I don't need to know. The guidance of God comes to me in abundance through inventory and service work. And I have gotten so clear on the voice of God in them functions right there to where on those occasions when God does speak to me about something personal, I know it's there. And since she's rushing me, I'll let it go at that. Please remember, if you really want to start to get into this guidance thing, ask God to help you start establishing the disciplines of your evening, review, inquiring what corrective measures should be taken, and getting into service. Getting to know the voice of God is naturally born out of that. Thank you. I wanted to let you all know before I close with a couple of short comments to wrap it up that Dave and I have a website that a lot of his thinking and reflections are on stories, workshops and some of my stories and workshops too and we'll put this on as well if anybody wants to visit it's a little hard to remember DaveandNorma.com so in closing there is a real difference between doing God's job and doing God' s work and I have to step out of God's shoes because I can't do His job but we can sure do His work in the way that we have outlined here remembering that inventory removes the blocks from God prayer is me communicating with my higher power. Guidance is me listening to what God might give me. Service, following God's directions. And you know doing service work is not to distract us from taking a drink. It's where God works. And you know to have that spiritual experience that's where it happens. And that's also when we receive from God. It's through all of these things. and it is an experience that you must not miss. Thank y'all.