NOV 26, 18 .. STEP ELEVEN

November, the 11th month of the year and time to share my thoughts on the 11th Step.

Step 11 : 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.

In the A.A. Conference approved book, 'Pass It On', it is stated that for the early members of A.A., the one most important thing in their day was their morning quiet time. During their morning quiet time, they read the Bible, prayed and meditated so that they would begin their day in a calm and relaxed manner.

With the importance to the early members of their morning quiet time, in some respects it is surprising that the Big Book did not make Step 2 as the prayer and meditation step instead of doing so later in Step 11. 

Consider this : Why do some members so rigidly stress to new members that they MUST work the steps in the numerical order that they are written?

Is there anything basically wrong to suggest to new members that, fundamentally there is nothing wrong should they choose to begin praying and meditating immediately.

I am not the only one with this opinion. In fact I myself came to this point-of-view after hearing others stress to new members that they certainly can, in addition to doing the first nine steps in the numerical order they are written, begin to pray and to meditate immediately.

Step 11 states in part : conscious contact with God.

I myself prefer to Pray Aloud and not in silence. I find I can keep my focus on my praying when I am actually talking aloud to God.

Prayer : Talking to God.

PUSH : Pray Until Something Happens.

Meditation : Listening to God.

MUSH : Meditate Until Something Happens.

I myself have memorized four prayers : The Lord's Prayer; The Third Step Prayer (page 63 of the Big Book); The Seventh Step Prayer (page 76 of the Big Book); and the Eleventh Step Prayer ("Thy Will Be Done" on page 88 of the Big Book).

I like to begin my prayer / meditation sessions by quietly, and slowly, saying the above four prayers.

Then I ask that God reveal to me (taken directly from the 11th Step) the knowledge of what His will for me is. That I be shown through the day what my next step is to be.

I also like to Give Thanks for my many blessings. Make Gratitude a part of my prayer life.

You can practice meditation all day long. While walking. While riding a bus / streetcar. While driving. While sitting in a meeting (meditation can be your concentrating on what is being said in the meeting, of being present and focused).

On page 88 of the Big Book it states :

It works - It really does.

Page 88 also gives the A.A. Big Book 11th Step Prayer : Thy will be done."

It works, it really does!