PO Box 1980

I just read the letter "Go Easy on Acceptance" in the March issue. If I may offer an opposing view: I believe you can't place enough emphasis on the sentence "Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today." I guess it's all in how you interpret it. To me, that sentence (and the rest of Dr. Paul's story in the Big Book) is talking about outcomes. My responsibility is to do the best I can, to the best of my ability, in carrying out whatever I honestly believe is God's will for me. The acceptance part has to do with the outcome. When I have held up my end to the best of my ability and the outcome is not the one I would have chosen if I were in charge, that's when I need to practice acceptance. In those situations, it helps me to go to the last sentence of that paragraph and concentrate on "what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes" rather than what needs to be changed in the world. I agree wholeheartedly with the writer about the importance of the third clause in the Serenity Prayer. Sometimes that "wisdom to know the difference" is the most elusive thing of all.