These prayers are provided for reference and to help addicts connect with their higher power. As in all prayers in SLAA, please feel free to substitute the word "God" with your own name or idea of a higher power.
The Complete Serenity Prayerby Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen. |
Spring Festival in Sichuan Province, Southwest China
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Night scenery in Lanzhou, Western China
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The 3rd Step Prayer
©Alcoholics Anonymous p. 63 At Step Three, many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always! We thought well before taking this Step, making sure we were ready. Then we could commence to abandon ourselves utterly to Him. |
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The 7th Step Prayer
©Alcoholics Anonymous This passage immediately follows after the steps 1 through 5 have been explained Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. Is our work solid so far? Are the stones properly in place? Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation? Have we tried to make mortar without sand? If we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all - every one? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing. When ready, we say something like this: My Creator, I am willing that You should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that You now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows. Grant me strength as I go out from here to do your bidding. We have then completed Step Seven. |
Rural Liaoning at sunset
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Adopted stray cats in in a rural village
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The 11th Step Prayer (Prayer of St. Francis)
©Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions 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. God, grant that I may seek rather to comfort, than to be comforted -- to understand, than to be understood -- to love, than to 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 |