Daily Reflection

AUGUST 9
". . . OF ALL PERSONS WE HAD HARMED"
. . . and became willing to make amends to them all.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 77
One of the key words in the Eighth Step is the word all. I
am not free to select a few names for the list and to
disregard others. It is a list of all persons I have harmed. I
can see immediately that this Step entails forgiveness
because if I'm not willing to forgive someone, there is little
chance I will place his name on the list. Before I placed the
first name on my list, I said a little prayer: "I forgive
anyone and everyone who has ever harmed me at any time
and under any circumstances."
It is well for me to contemplate a small, but very
significant, two-letter word every time the Lord's Prayer is
said. The word is as. I ask, "Forgive us our trespasses, as
we forgive those who trespass against us." In this case, as
means, "in the same manner." I am asking to be forgiven in
the same manner that I forgive others. As I say this portion
of the prayer, if I am harboring hatred or resentment, I am
inviting more resentment, when I should be calling on the
spirit of forgiveness.