A Meditation
when we retire at night, we constructively review our day
were we
resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid
do we owe an apology
have we
kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another
person at once
were we kind and loving toward all
what could we have
done better
were we thinking of ourselves most of the time
or were
we thinking of what we could do for others
of what we could pack into
the stream of life
but we must be careful not to drift into worry,
remorse or morbid reflection
for that would diminish our usefulness
to others
after making our review we ask God's forgiveness
and
inquire what corrective measures should be taken.
on awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead
we
consider our plans for the day
before we begin, we ask God to direct
our thinking
especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity,
dishonest or self-seeking motives
under these conditions we can
employ our mental faculties with assurance
for after all God gave us
brains to use
our thought- life will be placed on a much higher plane
when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
in thinking about our day we may face indecision
we may not be
able to determine which course to take
here we ask God for
inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision
we relax and take it easy, we don't struggle
we are often surprised how the right answers
come
after we have tried this for a while
what used to be the hunch
or the occasional inspiration
gradually becomes a working part of the mind
being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact
with God
it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times
we might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd
actions and ideas
nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as
time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration
we come to
rely upon it.
we usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer
that we
be shown all through the day what our next step is to be
that we be
given whatever we need to take care of such problems
we ask
especially for freedom from self-will
and are careful to make no
request for ourselves only
we may ask for ourselves, however, if
others will be helped
we are careful never to pray for our own
selfish ends
many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it
doesn't work
you can easily see why