For some, prayer is asking for Gods help; meditation is listening for Gods answer....  Quieting the mind through meditation brings an inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us.

Basic Text, pp. 46-47

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Be patient when youre learning to meditate, many of us were told.  It takes practice to know what to listen for.

Were glad someone told us that, or many of us would have quit after a week or two of meditating.  For the first few weeks, we may have sat each morning, stilled our thoughts, and listened, just as the Basic Text saidbut heard nothing.  It may have taken a few more weeks before anything really happened.  Even then, what happened was often barely noticeable.  We were rising from our morning meditations feeling just a little better about our lives, a little more empathy for those we encountered during the day, and a little more in touch with our Higher Power.

For most of us, there was nothing dramatic in that awarenessno bolts of lightning or claps of thunder.  Instead, it was something quietly powerful.  We were taking time to get our egos and our ideas out of the way.  In that clear space, we were improving our conscious contact with the source of our daily recovery, the God of our understanding.  Meditation was new, and it took time and practice.  But, like all the steps, it workedwhen we worked it.

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Just for today:  I will practice listening for knowledge of Gods will for me, even if I don"t know what to listen for yet.