Chapter 4 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous states, "...we had to fearlessly face the proposition that God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?" When I came to the very point in my recovery where I had no desire to turn back to my old life but letting go of my nature was viciously frightening this question laid uncomfortably unanswered before me. Prior to this juncture in my journeys I may have answered affirmatively yet it wasn't until that precise moment in which I fully understood what was being asked of me - or rather, what was required of me to move onward and upward.
If any of us are to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body we must: be free of manifesting our human defects in our behavior; live a life in which we exude tolerance and love of all; never be accepting of evil; live free from fear, anxiety and anger; be open to respect and love; posses the spirits of charity, forgiveness and joy. We must answer the question without heed to our human intellect - our nature telling us what we ought to do because we think we need to - but by opening ourselves to the presence of God and what he has planned. Joy is, indeed, the actual presence of God. Joy is no longer the absence of sorrow but His love laying constantly restive on our hearts. Therefore, joy is not the absence of sorrow but the presence of God.
When I answered, "God is everything" I, for the first time in my entire life, had become fully alive. The Spirit was awakened within me. It was in my heart and my soul, it drove through my mind with grace and swirled through my conscious like a cleansing river. I became and I am the human being that God created me to be, maximizing my human potential, free of conflict, and at peace.
I was and I am aware of what is required of me and I have answered, "Yes, God is everything." What will your answer be?
Written by Armand
The old song asks "all or nothing at all." In Step One in The Step Book, it is written that until we surrender completely by humbling ourselves "our sobriety, if any, will be precarious and of real happiness we will find none at all." Nothing. So what must I do? For me (for years), a perplexing question yet a surprisingly simple answer just as you've outlined in this synopsis on knowing peace. I must be all in. One decision, one final choice, one Step at a time, one day at a time, becoming one. To know peace is to be at One with peace. That required action on a daily basis. One choice inherently means fewer decisions and far fewer opportunities for my character defects to manifest themselves in my behavior. Today, as a result of one choice, my life is filled with clear energy. I'm more efficient and more effective, and each day I learn something of increasing value. The Power exists within me, granting me the power to carry out my life as it was created to be lived. I looked for peace in alcohol and found only dread. The program of Recovery is the basis for continued understanding and ongoing service to others. Peace!
ReplyDeleteMichael so well said by you "one decision, one final choice, one step at a time, one day at a time, becoming one." Not next year, not next week not in an hour, not in a minute but right now in this moment in the will of God there is peace....Thank you...Armand
DeleteThis Comment Is From A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteArmand,
Thanks so much for sharing.
For far too long I chose the broad road of life. A shallow human doing driven by every wind of doctrine in an incomprehensible world of similar lemmings all trying to swim up the same waterfall. Like a shipwrecked sailer desperately clinging to any floating debris in the aftermath of a windswept sea of misspent living, I would not and could not fathom that there is a living and loving God, just beyond my sight, who was patiently and fervently waiting for me to abandon the wreckage and finally reach out to His eternally extended hand. What joy and freedom there is to escape the self imposed prison of a totally me-centered life to that of a human being, made in the image and likeness of God and dedicated to His eternal plan. There are no words to describe the gift, or convey the experience of the "peace that surpasses all understanding" when one is finally, willingly and joyfully conformed to His purpose.
There is no greater gift that can be given than to finally apprehend that the One who pursued me with a love beyond telling and determination that never wavers came for one purpose, "To seek and to save those who are lost," and having been found that must I also do as I experience the joy of His presence. The 12 Steps of AA which inarguably finds its foundation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is His simple program for corrosively complicated people that opens the door to the immeasurable depth, fullness and light that is... the mind and heart of God. There is, as you have faithfully witnessed, no greater joy nor peace in living.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous brings us to a place where we are praying ONLY for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry it out. If we live in the will of God in the present than that in itself is a manifestation of answering in the affirmative to "either God is everything or He is nothing. Either God is or He isn't."...Thank you...Armand
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