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> From: NewParadigmFund@aol.com
> Date: August 11, 2011 11:05:47 AM EDT
> To: perowan@gmail.com, skovaleski@hunton.com, tjd@larashullmay.com, cjtfarrell@gmail.com, duplessisfamily@hotmail.com, peter.judge@cox.net, icelandfish@msn.com, nick_yacoub@yahoo.com, azizasis@yahoo.com, gregtafe@yahoo.com, dshapiro@umw.edu, chriskennemer@gmail.com, jeff@motternmasonry.com, implantfellow@yahoo.com, burnettejosh@ymail.com, tesfaiy@retrievalsystems.com, ronstevens@sunamericasupply.com
> Subject: Fwd: Today, Thursday, August 11, 2011
>

> Subj: Today, Thursday, August 11, 2011
>
> From Eigil: I tied up today's reading with a personal exchange between Stan B. and myself. Re-reading it, I want to edit because it's not flattering of me. But I realize what we share is better if it's "raw" and true.
>
> August 11: How God deals with you is your business, hmmn?
>
> [written 8-11-2010] David R. reminded me that today would have been Peter J’s anniversary date. David said, “I miss him daily.” For some of us, it’s good to remember Peter.
>
> This is August, the 8th month of the year;
> • The 8th Tradition: Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
> • The 8th Step: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
> • The 8th Promise: Self-seeking will slip away.
> __________________
>
> Thought for the Day
> “While alcoholics keep strictly away from drink, they react to life much like other people. But the first drink sets the terrible cycle in motion. Alcoholics usually have no idea why they take the first drink. Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied, but in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. The truth is that at some point in their drinking they have passed into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of no avail.” Am I satisfied that I have passed my tolerance point for alcohol?
>
> Meditation for the Day
> He who made the ordered world out of chaos and set the stars in their courses and made each plant to know its season, He can bring peace and order out of your private chaos if you will let Him. God is watching over you, too, to bless you and care for you. Out of darkness He is leading you to light, out of unrest to rest, out of disorder to order, out of faults and failure to success. You belong to God and your affairs are His affairs and can be ordered by Him if you are willing.
>
> Prayer for the Day
> I pray that I may be led out of disorder into order. I pray the I may be led out of failure into success.
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From Eigil
> [The following is an email I sent to Stan B]
> Stan:
>
>
> Comparing you [meaning Stan] to my father is a study in opposites. My father, since he was 84 (he passed away in 2004 at 96) has done nothing other than sit in his chair in the study and watch television, and have my step-mother wait on him hand and foot, putting his eye-drops in, driving him to his one-man office in the morning (to count his money) and picking him up at noon, and fixing him lunch....etc.
>
> He is on a pace-maker, he is constantly short of breath, is nauseous......and you: are seeking life through service to others. I think there's a message in there for me somewhere. I think God knows that I am more like you.
>
> When I sent the email to you, last night, I was at my desk at work, doing my son's civics paper that is due today. It took me almost 5 hours here, then my wife called me to come home and it took another hour after I got home. Service today, service tomorrow, service always. I hope God allows me a way to perform some service time on my fucking boat---anybody listening???/!!!!!
>
> I love you Stan.
>
> PS: I think there's a message in there for me somewhere. I think God knows that I am more like you.
>
> Stan's response:
> I think you are right on both "thinks."
>
> Your dad strikes me as another kind of addict, one obsessed with material well-being and perhaps wealth. Poor devils do not even have the lash of shame to help them find a way out. How can one repent if one has never done anything wrong? Where's the motivation to change? Instead they often find themselves surrounded with folks looking eagerly on inheritance or other benefits who commend them for their "industry" and "initiative" and focus! (foc - you, if you're not in there licking those boots, hmmn?)
>
> Chances are that only his confessor or therapist will hear of his loneliness and awareness that he is dying by the sword of his own "success."
>
> Your 9th Step with him ... if God gives you that grace, please don't push it! .... might yet touch him. Pondering such a Step may yet free you from the damages inflicted by his singleness of purpose.
>
> I'm sure inwardly, Eigil, that God forgives you every negative feeling and grief associated with your Dad. And in that, you are like me. And you may yet help him by letting him know you have been healed, that you have compassion for him and his struggle. He was sucked into his way of life,too, different from you or me in the lack of any "bottom," any breakdown except losing his money, property and social power. He was so good at not doing that, that he lost you ... and likely others .
>
> God's mercy extends to camels jammed up against needles eyes. Grin. please. But notice what Jesus did with the the rich young man who could not follow him. Mercy was expressed by walking away, sadly perhaps, but without forecasting misery for the young man. Who knows how God will deal with him? Or with your Dad? How God deals with you is your business, hmmn?
>
> God wants you to take a break and spend time praising God in the wind and waves. Take your boys with you and show them freedom from the rat race.
>
>
> To be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best,
> night and day, to make you everybody else--means
> to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight;
> and never stop fighting.
>
> -e. e. cummings
>
> To win this fight, we need be quietly, serenely ourselves,
> and that's a gift of grace worth seeking.
>
> Seeking the Light, Sta