2/13/15

Step 44 - I wish to know my own strength. (MP3) Entry for Step 43 - My will is to know God.


Greetings All –

Step 44 - I wish to know my own strength. (MP3)  [Open in Drive or copy to your Drive – Download folder or play from Drive – Step PDF also.]

I wish to know my own strength. Step 44


THIS AFFIRMATION YOU MAY FIND VERY ACCEPTABLE because of your immediate need for it in your current circumstances, but the affirmation is far deeper than you may at first realize. You have far more strength than you have claimed, but it cannot be fully realized until its application is directed in a manner that truly regenerates you and brings forth your true abilities.

HOW CAN YOU APPROACH YOUR STRENGTH when you feel weak and helpless, when you feel unworthy, if you are burdened by guilt or confusion or in anger blame others for your own apparent failures? To claim your strength means to release all that holds you back. You do not release your obstacles by claiming they do not exist. You release them because you value something greater. Their obstruction is merely the sign that you must pass through them. Your own strength is then cultivated. You seek your strength, and you use it to find your strength. We wish for you to know your strength and to utilize it on your own behalf.

IN YOUR TWO MEDITATION PRACTICES TODAY, in silence and in stillness, attempt to feel your own strength. Do not let thoughts alone dissuade you, for fears and doubts are only thoughts—vaporous things that cross your mind like clouds. Beyond the clouds of your mind is the great universe of Knowledge. Therefore, do not let the clouds obstruct your view of the stars beyond.

PRACTICE 44: Two 30-minute practice periods.



Picture:  Crew racing on the Potomac River viewed from the Key Bridge between D.C. and Rosslyn.


One's own will is often considered to, of course, be opposite to God's will. Presented with God's will as children and young adults, what is expected seems to require greater restraint on our lives than we are want.

This Step says directly in LOUD CAPITAL LETTERS: "YOUR WILL IS TO KNOW GOD." Today I find that something I can readily agree with.

From the Journal:

7:54 A.M. (CDT) Plano, TX - Sunday, August 29,1999 - S2K "My will is to KNOW GOD." This was a good meditation. I'm finding S2K very powerful. Mentally, I repeated the day's affirmation. There is no ego to make it difficult. As I repeated the affirmation, it became a song and then I was joined by the Family of Sha-ron - as in a choir they joined - so the song became "Our will is to KNOW GOD." It became a huge scene with musicians, drummers, dancers - all my family. Amazing talented souls - and me here as a point of light on earth dong my will.

It was an amazing meditation. Not a holy Instant - I could see that all in the world were "self" exploring the manifests reality.
...

My will is to Know God and in that pursuit encourage and assist others in connecting with this will in themselves/or to understand it is working all the time, though results may not suggest that.
My feeling now - a mellow understanding/Knowing that is happy and grateful to be here.
8:47 A.M. Awakening in yet a new way. There is not good but God; this is good; this is God.
It is all communication.
Just to be honest, in spite of this great meditation, the journal also notes several bumps that day in my human relationships.
NNC


Journal 2nd Time Step 43.  This is for those who have completed Steps once. Doing Steps with only the texts, messages and your life experience, including what you may have studied and practiced is your journey. I’m showing Step comments after the Step, so as not to influence you in advance. It is a wilderness trek to be left to your own wits, but then you can also listen more closely for guides, angels and teachers, always first saying: “I surround and protect myself with the Love and the Grace of God.” Thankfully, I was taught this practice in 1989.

P.S. If you’ve some interest due to this or other Steps, you should go to the beginning blog post. From here you will learn about Steps to Knowledge and can begin it on the day that makes sense; then progress as needed. You can use the posts on this blog as a companion if it helps. They will remain in order in the archives - one post per Step.

Often it takes 18 months to get through the Steps once. For this blog, the pace is one-a-day, but it really makes no difference how fast you do it, only that you begin, persist and repeat. Posts here provide a trail that may let you have a virtual companion when and if you want one. One may have to study alone, as I did in the beginning. There are other Steps students blogging their experience and you might find a person more like you as a companion, or use a number of such Steps journeys. There are options as well through the Free School of the New Message.