"JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote in message news:...
> > JB, do you think that absurd prayer on page 63 of the BB may have
> > caused some of your difficulty with taking step three?
> >
> > Bob
> >
> No. The difficulties I had with Step 3 were caused by me not being
> able to define to my satisfaction a "God" to whom I could decide to
> turn my will and life over to; my reluctance to give up trying to
> control my own life - and sometimes other peoples' lives - and my
> reluctance to make such a big decision while harbouring thoughts of
> taking it back each time I did not like feeling that I was not in
> control. Having said this, I'm not ashamed to admit that I retake
> Step 3 as often as I think necessary. When I do so, I feel no
guilt..
>
> JB
>
Dear Bob,

In my haste to answer your post, I didn't read it properly. My
answer was based on thinking only about the St Francis of Assis
prayer. I've now looked at the prayer you referred to. I'm not aware
of it being the cause of my difficulties with Step 3.

Each time I make the decision to turn my life and will over to my God
I help myself to either not worry at all or not worry as much about a
situation I am in or what the future holds. I don't know whether or
not this is how the prayer to which you refer was intended by those
who wrote the BB to be interpreted.

JB

"JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote in message
news:c5ub7t$bcd$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...
> "JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote in message news:...
> > > JB, do you think that absurd prayer on page 63 of the BB may
have
> > > caused some of your difficulty with taking step three?
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > No. The difficulties I had with Step 3 were caused by me not
being
> > able to define to my satisfaction a "God" to whom I could decide
to
> > turn my will and life over to; my reluctance to give up trying to
> > control my own life - and sometimes other peoples' lives - and my
> > reluctance to make such a big decision while harbouring thoughts
of
> > taking it back each time I did not like feeling that I was not in
> > control. Having said this, I'm not ashamed to admit that I retake
> > Step 3 as often as I think necessary. When I do so, I feel no
> guilt..
> >
> > JB
> >
> Dear Bob,
>
> In my haste to answer your post, I didn't read it properly. My
> answer was based on thinking only about the St Francis of Assis
> prayer. I've now looked at the prayer you referred to. I'm not
aware
> of it being the cause of my difficulties with Step 3.
>
> Each time I make the decision to turn my life and will over to my
God
> I help myself to either not worry at all or not worry as much about
a
> situation I am in or what the future holds. I don't know whether or
> not this is how the prayer to which you refer was intended by those
> who wrote the BB to be interpreted.
>
> JB
>

If you ever bother with the AA history, you will see that after the
ordeal of finding consensus about the steps, agreement on prayer was
to stop arguing about irreconcilable opinions on things like prayer
"For a while it looked as if we would bog down into permanent
disagreement" so Bill could get the Big Book published.

I looked up a St Francis prayer on the internet
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pray0233.htm

and even if it may not have been the particular St Francis prayer you
were talking about, it too gave me a smile at exercises in the
absurdity of granting divine status to our own opinions by instructing
a supposedly all knowing God as to what was best for us.

Not_God Bob