In the Step Book it tells us that a
continuous look back at our liabilities and a real desire to grow by
those means are necessities for us. We alcoholics have learned this the
hard way. More experienced people, in all times and places,
have practiced unsparing self-survey and criticism. The wise have
always known that no human being can make much of their life until
self-searching becomes a regular habit - until one is able to ADMIT AND
ACCEPT
what is found.
Through my daily inventory I can
now admit and accept that my character defects are a part of my human
nature, a part of my nature that cannot manifest itself if I am living
in the will of God. I have come to understand that my human nature is
defected and I must accept this about myself.
In
the program of Alcoholics Anonymous it is often said "let go and let
God." The "let go" part is turning from the incessant prompts of our
human
nature and the "let God" part is living in and thereby manifesting the
will of
God. In the will of God, the raw nature of God, our character defects
cannot be manifested in our behavior and it is here that our nature can
be perfected as we become the human being that God created us to
be.
Self-survey is a most powerful tool of recovery.
This is from A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteArmand,
It was my base instinct for survival that compelled my first surrender and opened the door to Eternal Light. As my journey continues the clouds of mystery begin to dissolve. I have been pulled from the wilderness and placed on a path, a very narrow path and although at first the location appears somewhat vague I am at peace with the knowledge that the destination is secure. But the path appears fearfully uneven with pitfalls along the way.
As I wrestle this fearful conundrum He recalls to my heart the words of Chapter 5, "We asked His protection and care with complete abandon." And I sense I'm about to further plumb the depths and breath of the meaning of "complete", but not out of mere desperation, but a conscience act of the will. I drop to my knees and fervently seek the One who has placed me here, Who lovingly reminds that I have abandoned my desire to become my own worst nightmare and the path that served as a living definition of "the broad road that leads to destruction."
He reminds me "It's a simple program" that I all too often fearfully make complex. I need only place my weaknesses before Him and failure is replaced by forgiveness and fear is replaced by faith. He is my Constant Compass and His Word is now my map. My one true and only source of security, in every insecurity, encountered along the road.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic An integration of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous into our life in such a way that it becomes our life brings us from a thought process that is propelled by our human instinct to a thought process that is propelled by the will of God through inspiration...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteFor me, admitting is the easier part - accepting is the grimmer. I, quite often, can admit to myself when and why my thinking has taken over and that I’ve gone astray from God’s intended and divine navigation. Accepting the flaws and inadequacies that I’ve let dominate my self-expression and ego as just a part of me and putting them categorically into my human nature which I wish to deviate from is altogether a different story.
ReplyDeleteI have a calling to a braver approach to life. As one who desires to be recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body, I wake up with a renewing and almost touchable force of spirit. This Spirit can carry me through the day, or I can chose to step over its ebb and its flow with my own humanly inspired, and very limited, plan of action (or inaction, depending on the day). If I was able to admit AND accept my admissions as part of me, as part of a history that welded into being for, if only one reason, was to bring me here to God IN THIS MOMENT and to you on this page I would be able to live IN THIS MOMENT. There is a harmony when I do so - both admit what’s to be admitted and accept for what it all is and was meant for.
My sponsor tells me not to ask questions I cannot get the answers to, so I TRUST. I trust that my prayers and my faith and my “Letting Go and Letting God” aren’t all for naught. I trust that I am better off - in the BEST way - when I hand my demons and nightmares of the past over to Him, instead of shoving them deep into my subconscious where they only cause lag in and throughout and breadth of my being. I must have BOTH an ongoing admittance and an acceptance forever lasting in order to be gifted the love and the patience this program offers.
Caitlin the purpose of the twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is to bring us to a place where the need to accept is replaced by a complete and absolute surrender. In the back half of the Eleventh Step we are praying only for knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out. Live there and we will know a life of joy...Thank you so much...Armand
ReplyDeleteHarry Emerson Fosdick, a great minister, preacher and Bill Wilson contemporary, once stated that "the beginning of worthwhile living is the confrontation with ourselves." In my initial years in AA, I had not come to fully realize that the problem was within me but so was the Solution. Far beyond my intellectual capability lay the notion that until I achieved enough humility to look deeply inside, I would not be completely free from "my devastating weakness and all its consequences." Only through the practice of The Twelve Steps in my life was I able to "get sufficiently personal." The miracle is that in looking at myself -the problem, I was able to develop and maintain a relationship with The Power Within me - the Solution. Self-confrontation lead me to me which lead me to the Great Reality of me: that He had always been there and always will. It is up to me through all The Steps to live awakened and enlivened to the truth.
ReplyDeleteMichael once we have completed the first nine steps ,if completed in the Spirit of A A, we have extricated ourselves from our past and are living in the present. The Tenth Step, first through daily inventory and then constantly through an enlightened awareness, allows us to deal with our manifested character defects so as not to drag our past into the present. There we can live at peace in the presence of God... ..Thank you...Armand
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