We sought through our common prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
In Step Eleven we have an opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with our Higher Power. This Step is about our spiritual awakening. We improve conscious contact with our Higher Power through prayer and meditation. Appropriate prayer is sincere, humble, and not for our own
selfish gain. We pray for knowledge of our Higher Power ’s will for us and for willingness to act on it. Meditation is an ancient art of quieting the mind. Some of us find it difficult to sit quietly and relax or quiet our racing mind, but this becomes easier with continued practice.Couples achieving some progress with this Step may develop a greater sense of gratitude. Many of us feel a sense of being connected, guided, and sustained as we work together as a couple.
If you have difficulty praying or lack experience with prayer and meditation, it is suggested that you use the Serenity Prayer:
God grant us the serenity
To accept the things we cannot change
Courage to change the things we can
And wisdom to know the difference
God grant us the serenity
Serenity means no longer recoiling from the past, no longer living in fear because of our present behavior, nor worrying about the future. To maintain serenity, we regularly seek healthier behaviors. We try to avoid depletion, which tends to make us vulnerable to despair and old, self-destructive patterns.
To accept the things we cannot change
Acceptance means acknowledging that there are situations over which we have no control. By changing our behavior, we avoid the suffering that comes from clinging to that which no longer exists.
Courage to change the things we can
Courage to Change– involves giving up our attempts to control outcomes, but it does not require that we give up our boundaries or best efforts. It does mean an honest appraisal of the limits of what we can change.
And wisdom to know the difference
Wisdom in RCA often comes from painful experiences in which we tried to control situations that frightened us, only to discover that we could not. Wisdom is our ability to evaluate our past experiences, learn from them, and let them go. Wisdom is critical in determining which things we can change and which we can’t. Once we arrive at a degree of acceptance and begin to let go, we find a new energy and enthusiasm for life.