Please all and you will soon please none. ASEOP (620-560 BC)
Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
PROVERBS 27:17
We cant please all the people all the time. As we go about our lives we find ourselves being involved in the lives others who may be traveling our direction. At the same time we can find ourselves traveling with those who travel with a different azimuth. Now theres a word I havent used in a while, just what is an azimuth? I learned what an azimuth is when I was in basic training in the army. Part of the training was the compass course. This was a course taken overland by foot from one point to another with only the use of a compass. We did it during daytime and also at night. We would first take a topographical map and find the tow points, the beginning and the ending points. We would take the map and lay it on the ground and with the compass line up north and south properly. We would then allow for the angle of declination, which has to do with the tilt of the earth on its axis. We could then get in degrees on the compass the straight line between the two points we wished to travel from. This is known as the azimuth. I have noticed in my life that not everyone is traveling the same azimuth that I am on. Some are a few degrees off of the direction I am traveling, and some are traveling on azimuths that are of a 90-degree difference and are traveling cross-grain. Then some are traveling a 180-degree difference and are headed in totally the opposite direction of my travel. I am sure that God wants us all headed in the same direction, and many times in my life I have had to adjust my azimuth. I can see where over the years I have adjusted my azimuth so many times that I feel that I am now headed in the opposite direction I started out on. Gods love has such a powerful pull that it has helped change my direction time and time again. That is not the only thing that adjusts my azimuth or the direction I am headed. The love of family, the fellowship of friends, a good church that believes in teaching the right direction to take, and having a spiritual mentor and AA sponsor in my life have all altered my direction from time to time. I found it necessary that in order to stay clean and sober I had to find a sponsor who was headed the direction I desired to head, and could feel the same pull of God great love. How important it is to have someone close to me who can say, Jerry, that might be just a couple of degrees off. As we cross paths, it is like iron sharpening iron. There might be some friction, and the wearing down of some tuff skin, but I become sharper and better able to cut through the difficulties of everyday life. The magnetic pull of Gods love on the compass of my heart has repeatedly allowed me to adjust, adjust and adjust. That my friend is the grace of God. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself JRE
My first sponsor told me there were two things to say about prayer and meditation: first, I had to start and second, I had to continue. When I came to AA my spiritual life was bankrupt; if I considered God at all, He was to be called upon only when my self-will was incapable of a task or when over-whelming fears had eroded my ego.
Today I am grateful for a new life, one in which my prayers are those of thanksgiving. My prayer time is more for listening than for talking. I know today that I cannot change the wind, I can adjust my sail. I know the difference between superstition and spirituality. I know there is a graceful way of being right and many ways to be wrong.
A.A. DAILY REFLECTIONS page 314
Jesus the Way to go, the Truth to know, and the Life to live, thanks for letting me share with you today jre
Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
PROVERBS 27:17
We cant please all the people all the time. As we go about our lives we find ourselves being involved in the lives others who may be traveling our direction. At the same time we can find ourselves traveling with those who travel with a different azimuth. Now theres a word I havent used in a while, just what is an azimuth? I learned what an azimuth is when I was in basic training in the army. Part of the training was the compass course. This was a course taken overland by foot from one point to another with only the use of a compass. We did it during daytime and also at night. We would first take a topographical map and find the tow points, the beginning and the ending points. We would take the map and lay it on the ground and with the compass line up north and south properly. We would then allow for the angle of declination, which has to do with the tilt of the earth on its axis. We could then get in degrees on the compass the straight line between the two points we wished to travel from. This is known as the azimuth. I have noticed in my life that not everyone is traveling the same azimuth that I am on. Some are a few degrees off of the direction I am traveling, and some are traveling on azimuths that are of a 90-degree difference and are traveling cross-grain. Then some are traveling a 180-degree difference and are headed in totally the opposite direction of my travel. I am sure that God wants us all headed in the same direction, and many times in my life I have had to adjust my azimuth. I can see where over the years I have adjusted my azimuth so many times that I feel that I am now headed in the opposite direction I started out on. Gods love has such a powerful pull that it has helped change my direction time and time again. That is not the only thing that adjusts my azimuth or the direction I am headed. The love of family, the fellowship of friends, a good church that believes in teaching the right direction to take, and having a spiritual mentor and AA sponsor in my life have all altered my direction from time to time. I found it necessary that in order to stay clean and sober I had to find a sponsor who was headed the direction I desired to head, and could feel the same pull of God great love. How important it is to have someone close to me who can say, Jerry, that might be just a couple of degrees off. As we cross paths, it is like iron sharpening iron. There might be some friction, and the wearing down of some tuff skin, but I become sharper and better able to cut through the difficulties of everyday life. The magnetic pull of Gods love on the compass of my heart has repeatedly allowed me to adjust, adjust and adjust. That my friend is the grace of God. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself JRE
My first sponsor told me there were two things to say about prayer and meditation: first, I had to start and second, I had to continue. When I came to AA my spiritual life was bankrupt; if I considered God at all, He was to be called upon only when my self-will was incapable of a task or when over-whelming fears had eroded my ego.
Today I am grateful for a new life, one in which my prayers are those of thanksgiving. My prayer time is more for listening than for talking. I know today that I cannot change the wind, I can adjust my sail. I know the difference between superstition and spirituality. I know there is a graceful way of being right and many ways to be wrong.
A.A. DAILY REFLECTIONS page 314
Jesus the Way to go, the Truth to know, and the Life to live, thanks for letting me share with you today jre
