[nandm]

Day 6

Matters of Money

"I don't know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." Bill Cosby.

Admittedly, many wrongs have been done to us by others. But it's not our purpose to set out, like Don Quixote, to right those wrongs. Ours is not a quest to bring our enemies to their knees; it is plainly and simply an exercise in self-examination and restitution.

If we seem to be belaboring this point, it's simply because this is one of the most common difficulties that has beset many of us. Somehow, it's difficult to comprehend why we have to take all the responsibility for the bad experiences we've had with others. We stubbornly cling to the notion that they should be held responsible for their part.

We do not take all the responsibility. We simply acknowledge where we were wrong. And we become willing to make amends for the part that was our doing.

We must look carefully at where we may have bilked or conned someone, or where we accepted payment for work that was haphazard or shoddy. We examine all our dealings with money---borrowing, overspending, cheating, withholding, wasting. We carefully assess each incident that has proved harmful to ourselves and others.

Today's Step: I take responsibility for the wrongs I have done, and let God handle the ways I was wronged.

Step by Step. Muriel Zink