Many centuries ago there was a kingdom and in this kingdom there
lived a farmer and this farmer had a beautiful white stallion. The king
of the kingdom desired the farmer's beautiful white stallion. So the
king sent an emissary to the farmer who offered the farmer a quarter of
the kings kingdom for the beautiful white stallion. The farmer, he
said no as I love my beautiful white stallion. The very next day the
beautiful white stallion ran away. So all the people from the village
come running out to the farmer and say that is a bad thing that happened
to you You could have had a quarter of the kings kingdom and now your
beautiful white stallion has run away. The farmer he says, I don't know
If It's a good thing I don't know If It's a bad thing all I know is my
beautiful white stallion has run away. The very next day the farmer is
in his field and he looks up on the hill and what does he see? He sees
his beautiful white stallion and behind his beautiful white stallion are
four more white stallions just as beautiful as his. So all the people
from the village come running out to the farmer and they say. It's a
good thing you didn't trade your beautiful white stallion for a quarter
of the king' kingdom as now you have five beautiful white stallions.
You can probably get half of the kings kingdom! The farmer he says, I
don't know if it's a good thing I don't know if it's a bad thing all I
know is I have five beautiful white stallions. The very next day the
farmers son is breaking one of the wild white stallions. He is thrown
from the stallion and breaks both his legs. So all the people from the
village come running out to the farmer and say that is a bad thing that
happened to you. You need your son to work in the fields and now he
can't as he has two broken legs. The farmer he says, I don't know if
it's a good thing I don't know if it's a bad thing all I know is my son
has two broken legs. The very next day the kingdom goes to war and all
the able bodied men are being drafted into the army and thy will go to
the front and they will surely die but the farmers son he can't go as he
has two broken legs. So all the people from the village come running
out to the farmer and they say that is a good thing that your son was
thrown from the wild white stallion and broke both his legs as your son
would have been drafted into the army, he would have gone to the front
and he would have surely died. The farmer he says, I don't know if it's
a good thing I don't know if it's a bad thing all I know is my son
can't go as he has two broken legs.
The moral of
the story is that we are not to judge what is occurring in our life as
good or bad but to have faith and to trust in God praying only for
knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out.
We like to call them "unintended consequences", I.e. results we never intended or expected. They happen every day. Regrets, doubts, and resentments, even though never intended, are poison for me, and they were all ripe for the picking in my world of self-will and what-about-me. The white stallion saga puts into context a tremendously important truth: that we never really know. It has been only by learning and incorporating The Twelve Steps of AA into my life that I have been able to understand that circumstances should not determine peace of mind. I must absolutely trust that The Power Within me holds me gently and keeps me safe from the dictates of what my mind wants to think. Living in His Will is living to the fullest. Living in mine never properly presents or completes me. It took a sea of alcohol to bring me to that simple grain of truth.
ReplyDeleteMichael The post today and especially your comment illustrates that peace for an alcoholic can only be found in the will of God and that using self will can only lead to a life of instability, frustration, fear, resentment and anger. Really found your comment helpful...Armand
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. So living in His will, what in front of me today, whether good or bad is living to the fullest. Determining if it's good or bad is that rabbit hole of living in my will that never satisfies me.
I pray today to live by that.
Some would say that losing your husband at 29 years old is a "bad" thing - circumstances that lead to tragedy are never deemed "good". But the facets of good and bad are used so prevalently as a mere black and white look at the world, at life, at events, at people - and so have gained a place in a society of, if was painted any color, plainly grey. Living in your own will leads to self-determined victimization when "bad" things happen or hyper-inflated egoism and potentially false hope when "good" things come your way. Living in the will of God, your need to bare the burden of any determination of any situation is lifted with prayer and hope that what happens is meant to - even if the reason is far beyond the understanding of your human intellect. After losing my husband to the disease of addiction it was clearer than it may have ever been that my life needed God; that I could not raise two children without Him and His love; that getting clean and sober and living a program to better myself and rebuild all that was broken by tragedy and loss and grief was my only choice. There was no doubt, through such tragedy, that life was to be treated as fragile as ever. I do not know what would have come of me if I hadn't gone through what I did. I cannot possibly label such things as good or bad. They just are. We sail on with His navigation.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin thank you so much for sharing your life experience and how that experience made it "clearer than it may have ever been that your life needed God." In the back half of the Eleventh Step it says "praying only for the knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out." Live there only and you will know peace and joy...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteTrust in God is essential and it is in the 10th, 11th, & 12th steps that we find a life full of peace
ReplyDeleteLove & tolerance of all people and things. God will do for us , what we could never be able to do for ourselves. The 12 steps brings us to a higher Conciousness , allowing us to live in God's Will not ours. We now our able to understand that we are living our lives for His Purpose not ours.
Illustrations such as the parable of the Stallions
Have depth and meaning in our lives . When our self centered fear which used to motivate us is no longer manifested in our Beings , our defects of character which is defined as imperfections in our moral firmness are now recognized . No longer our we slaves to our own sinful desires. We rely on Gods inspiration not our own warped instincts. It is in this space that we live, it is here where we find the solution to our true malady which is our self centered fear. We now trust in God ! He and only He removes these from us .
He also removes our obsession to drink !
Don alcohol is but a symptom of our true malady, our true malady is self centered fear, afraid we are not going to get what we want, afraid that we are going to lose what we have. The solution to our problem is a vital spiritual experience. Here in the will of God our human fear cannot be manifested in our behavior... Thank you so much for commenting...Armand
ReplyDelete