A Few Prayers Based on Alcoholics Anonymous (4th ed.)

(Still working on format corrections)

THE PRAYERS1,2

MORNING PRAYERS

1.      God, as I plan my day, direct my thinking.  I ask especially that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonesty, and self-seeking.  (AA4th @ 86)³

2.      God, I reach out to you, for I am lost.  Grant me inspiration, an intuitive thought, or a decision to help me chart my course today.  (AA4th @ 86)4

3.      God, show me each step I should take throughout the day.  Grant me freedom from self-will, the capacity to recognize your guidance, and the faith and courage to follow it.  (AA4th @ 87)

DAYTIME/ANYTIME PRAYER

God, deliver me from self-seeking, doubt, and needless fear.  Grant me strength to remain honest, open, and willing.  And fill my heart with patience, tolerance, kindliness, and love.

 

BEDTIME PRAYER/TENTH STEP PRAYER

God, forgive me, for I (acted out, edged, lost patience, was unkind, etc.) today.  Give me strength to apologize to those I have wronged.  Grant me the insight to know where amends must be made and the courage to carry them out.  (AA4th @ 86)

 

ANGER PRAYER #1

God, bless this man, for he has opened my eyes to my self-centeredness.  Direct me and give me patience and wisdom, that I may avoid further troubles of my own making.  Grant him good health, prosperity, and happiness.  (AA4th @ 62, 552)

 

ANGER PRAYER #2

God, take away my anger toward this person.  Give me the generosity to accept him as being exactly the way he is supposed to be at this moment.  Grant him good health, prosperity, and happiness.  (AA4th @ 417, 552)

NINTH STEP PRAYER

God, as I make my amends, grant me the strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter the consequences.  Give me sensitivity and wisdom, that I may avoid needless harm to someone.  Guide me to the end, that when I have fully paid my debt of amends I may be of maximum service to others.  (AA4th @ 77-80)

NOTES

[1] I adapted nearly all these prayers from Alcoholics Anonymous (4th ed., 2001), a.k.a. the Big Book, first published in 1939. A few of these prayers are not adapted but were inspired by the Big Book.

In front of me right now, however, I have a two-page document entitled "Ask in the Morning …  Thank at Night!"  It's an old A.A. flier.  I was baffled when I saw that the prayers didn't follow the Big Book all that well, and indeed hardly at all in some cases.  And another thing: "Ask in the Morning . . . Thank at Night!" contains no thanks!  Maybe this old A.A. flier ought to be titled "Ask in the Morning …  Ask Again at Night!"

The folks at A.A., according to its website, state that Bill W. probably wrote the 3rd and 7th Step Prayers.  They don't say who they believe composed the others.  In short, of the 13 prayers included in this old A.A. flier, 2 were likely composed by Bill W. and 11 were likely composed by nameless others.

The date on the bottom of the first page of "Ask in the Morning . . . Thank at Night" reads "April 1939."  But I believe most, if not all, of its anonymous prayers were composed much later.

Revising famous or well-established prayers is not without precedent.  Consider the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The author of the above prayer is unknown.  But the author of the original version is very well-known, the legendary moral philosopher and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.  Here's what he wrote in 1937:

Father, give us courage to change what can be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other. 

Niebuhr was world-renowned, a spiritual advisor and public policy counselor to leaders on every continent.  But thank God someone rewrote that prayer, right?

[2] The prayers I offer are based on the Big Book and not on "Ask in the Morning …  Thank at Night!"  A careful reading of pp. 86-87 clearly shows that the prayers Bill W. suggested for the morning day-planning "meditation" are 3 separate and discreet prayers, spoken at different points in the "meditation."  In my humble opinion, they lose their clarity of purpose when they are consolidated into 1 (e.g., the "Day Prayer" in the older document).  As for the "Night Prayer," I've tossed my copy into the wastebasket.  I offer my "Bedtime Prayer" as its replacement because my prayer, I believe, actually does what I'm sure Bill W. wanted that prayer to do when he wrote page 86.

As with "Ask in the Morning …  Thank at Night!," each of my prayers, where appropriate, is paired with an excerpt from the "Big Book."  You judge whether these prayers closely follow what Bill W. envisioned.  If you have a copy of "Ask in the Morning …  Thank at Night!" I invite you to compare its prayers to these.

[3] "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 brians to use.Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives."

 

I'm convinced that "Before we begin" at the beginning of the 3rd sentence refers to before "we [begin to] consider our plans for the day," not before we embark on the day's activities.

"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.…" (BB@ p. 87)

Notice Bill W. says "may" twice.  "May," of course, implies the possibility of "may not."  He anticipated the possibility that we wouldn't face indecision, we would already know which course to take.  Only in the case of indecision do we stop and ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought, or a decision.

[Instead of "relax and take it easy," I prefer: "remain calm, stand by, and await a response."  "Relax and take it easy" conjures up in my mind a guy in a Barco-lounger with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other, or someone in the back yard in a hammock between two shade trees with the lawn mower in the middle of the half-mowed lawn.]

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.…" (BB @ 86-87)

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.…(BB @87)

"Such problems" does not mean "all problems."  These words refer back to the passage just quoted above regarding the problems stemming from mistaking our own hunches and ideas for God's guidance.

DAYTIME MANTRAS.  (To be said, not to God, but to yourself, repeatedly throughout the day as a reminder that you have abandoned self-will.)

• Fuck that shit.
• My higher power won't let me act out today.
• Step away from the computer! 

•  Step away from the massage parlor!

• His will be done.
• His will be done, but first: Serenity now!
• God has a droll sense of humor. 
• Life is tough.  But so am I.
• This too shall pass.
• It could be worse. 

"ially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to e no request for ourselves only.…" (BB @ 87)