The Eleventh Step Prayer
The Eleventh Step Prayer is also known as “The Prayer of St. Francis” and that is the way I know it best. I’d like to consider something from the prayer for my own life but first, let me repeat the prayer;
The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . . hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
Where there is sadness . . . joy
Divine Master,
grant that i may not so much seek
To be consoled . . . as to console
To be understood . . . as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love
For it is in giving . . . that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . . that we are born to eternal life
What would I like to consider?
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Is my anger getting the best of me to the point that I am saying “I Hate - Whatever?” I hear folks say to others that hate is a strong word and that is true. How about those of us who are “working” a program of recovery? Are we using the phrase in our daily communications or thoughts? If we are, have I/we lost sight of sowing love? Anger will, imho, cause me to lose the ability to feel or sow love, for myself or towards others. How do you feel about that?
Tags: 11th-step, peace, serenity, St.-Francis-PrayerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: The Eleventh Step
7 opinions for The Eleventh Step Prayer
Gwen
Nov 13, 2006 at 3:06 pm
I have lost my anger. I just don’t have the energy. I know it is something within myself that needs adjusting when I do get angry. Like I said I am just to darn tired to excert that kind of energy!
Hey I have not seen you added to the Top100 SoberBlogs? Will you be adding yourself?
Dharmashanti
Nov 13, 2006 at 5:48 pm
This is so true. As we block love to those we encounter or think about, we block the flow of love to us. To withhold it from anyone else, for any reason, is to withhold it from ourselves.
Namaste,
Dharmashanti
Deb
Nov 13, 2006 at 11:56 pm
There was a time when I hated someone. The feeling consumed me. I wondered whether my own hated, or alcohol, would kill me first. I have been blessed to know the power of forgiveness, which I could not have achieved without sobriety. It was a double blessing! I’m very careful not to use the word “hate” these days for any reason.
Mark
Nov 14, 2006 at 6:54 am
Thank you ladies :)
Yes, I will be there soon Gwen.
dAAve / higher powered
Nov 14, 2006 at 7:59 am
I began removing the word “hate” from my vocabulary years ago, even before I got sober. It is just so negative. There are many things I don’t like and many people behave in a way that I don’t condone or like, but I hate no one.
I also have anger no more. I have honestly not been angry since I got sober. Amazing!
Mark
Nov 14, 2006 at 8:22 am
Thanks dAAve!
So many others can’t say that… would be nice if they could eh?
A Dozen Steps » Nor Wish To Shut The Door On It
Jan 11, 2007 at 8:29 am
[…] The Eleventh Step Prayer - Once again, the tool needed at a time of emotional disturbance […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: