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"Let
Your Light So Shine," we have been told. But, unless we know
what this Light is and how to turn it on ... it cannot Shine, Shine,
Shine! There is much to
be learned from the successes in the world generated by faith. A.
A., or Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935 has had millions of success
stories since its inception. Founded in an era when admitting to
being an alcoholic could have serious ramifications to one's reputation,
career and self-esteem, this organization has assisted people from all
walks of life and varying faiths to successfully move beyond alcoholism.
This success, in my opinion, has everything to do with Step# 2, the
acknowledgment of a Power greater than themselves. The recognition
of this Power that is greater than us, is the "success" step
.. without it, the 12-Step Program would have not found its great
success. The first step in A. A. Step# 1, is to recognize what
needs to be changed .. in other words, we recognize the problem and in
Step #2 we turn to the solution, God.
Within the 12-Steps there is
a statement, "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him." This
is a key phrase ... those who are successful with A. A. ... successful
with Life ... must understand God. For many people there is never
that awakening to the idea that they require a greater understanding of
God in order to have a greater portion of Good in their lives ... too
many people rely on what they know from past experience ... but the
measure of Good we experience in our lives is directly affected by the
level of our understanding of the nature of God so we must strive to
expand our awareness and understanding of God. The 11th Step is:
"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for
knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."
This improvement in our conscious contact with God
is very necessary for us all. We cannot allow ourselves to
rely on the pastors, priests and rabbis to teach us what God must teach
us ... at some point each of us must come into a personal relationship
with God.
In Religious
Science we use the term "consciousness"
to define the measure of our awareness of God, the Infinite One.
But this term is not limited to any particular religious belief and the
teachings of Religious Science are not in conflict with any other
religious teaching. Now .... some people will immediately say ..
how can you state that Religious Science is not in conflict when you
don't believe as the Christians teach that Jesus died for our sins and
He is our Saviour and you can't go to the Father without Him? Or,
how can you state there is no conflict when those of the Jewish faith
are still waiting for the Messiah and you are blind to their waiting?
I can state this from "understanding"
for as we "understand" God more we realize that our
relationship with God has nothing to do with religion ... and in fact,
many religions will deter or delay us from having any real relationship
with God for as we find a greater relationship with this Power Greater
than us (God), we will find that much of what we have learned from
religion is no longer plausible to us... the Master Mind Jesus stated
this very same thing. Whether
we believe in God as defined by our religions or not ... even if we are
atheist .. as long as we understand that there is a Power Greater than
us ... we have the "Spiritual Advantage." Jesus stated,
"these things I do and greater things still shall you do."
He did not say ... sit around in your misery and wait for me!
While some of us are waiting for the Messiah ... we have things to do
... He/She is not waiting for us ... get busy!! Everyone who
understands, believes or knows that there is a Power Greater than us ...
already has the "Spiritual Advantage" ... so now all we must
do is learn to use it!
And
So It Is!
Letting
Love Use Me In Its Own Good Way,
Henry
Lee Bates
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