Meditation

On my first day at AA, the man who would become my sponsor gave me my first blue Big Book and told me to begin every day by reading the prayer on page 86. AA endorses meditation and I learned even more from my counselor at Lion Rock. I now meditate on a regular basis, and would hate to live my life without it. This is a meditation prayer suggested by AA in Step 11 of the "12 and 12" book. I believe it is the prayer of St. Francis; "Lord, make me a channel of thy peace- that where there is hatred, I may bring love- that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness- that where there is discord, I may bring harmony- that where there is error, I may bring truth- that where there is doubt, I may bring faith- that where there is despair, I may bring hope- that where there are shadows, I may bring light- that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than be comforted- to understand, rather than to be understood- to love, than be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen."