In Chapter 4 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous it says, "...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 I was fearful of letting go of my nature (and living in the will of God), the above statement had to be answered. I may have answered in the affirmative earlier in my recovery but it wasn't until that precise moment that I fully understood what was being asked of me - or rather, required of me.If we are to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body; if we are to be free of manifesting our human defects in our behavior; if we are to live a life where we are tolerant and loving of all but never accepting of evil, if we are to live a life free from fear, anxiety and anger, if we are to be respected and loved and posses the spirit of charity forgiveness and joy - not because everything in life is as our human nature thinks it ought to be but because God is with us. Joy is not the absence of sorrow but the presence of God.
For the first time in my life I had become fully alive as the Spirit was fully awakened within me. I became and am the human being that God created me to be, maximizing my human potential, free of conflict, and at peace.
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
My experience is that simply facing the fork in the road wasn't enough. That awareness, however, was the beginning of my understanding that there is something within me far more instinctive than my mind, and far more durable than my will. At that juncture (in The Third Step), I was counseled that I had to make a decision. In Steps 1 and 2, I was able to reach conclusions about both my drinking and my self-centered and sorrowful life. But I learned that The Third Step requires a final choice to turn my thinking and my subsequent behavior over to the care of whatever Power I believed in. To do that, I had only to surrender to the remaining Steps of the program of recovery. By then integrating all Twelve Steps into my life in such a way that they have become my life, I found The Power Within me. The decision has been removed; the choice is final. Peace and joy are the result.
ReplyDeleteMichael the decision made in the Third Step to live by the Power within is the beginning of an authentic life...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite lines in the Book: the Second Step Choice. God is everything or nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be? That choice meant a lot to me because I realized that I had been trying to conceptualize my Higher Power as one of the players in the universe-- somewhere, out there, maybe there was a God, and maybe there wasn't. Maybe I could prove it, maybe I could find it, but maybe I couldn't. Faced with this choice, I realized perhaps I needed to enlarge my conception of God-- maybe I needed to embrace a concept of God as "everything." But how would I do that? And then where was I to find this Power anyway? Later on in Chapter Four, we are provided specific instructions on where to find God, and it's not above, but within: "We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found." Instructions I turn to often today. And I love the thought that "joy is not the absence of sorrow, but the presence of God"-- that has proven to be my experience as I go through life in recovery.
ReplyDeleteDan Serenity is the absence of conflict in my mind regardless of what is occurring around me. A life lived in the will of God is a serene life...Thank you...Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing.
For the first 37 years of my life I was the very definition of a shallow "Human Doing” burning my way through an incomprehensible world of mixed messages and shallow promises that proved empty at every turn.. Like a shipwrecked sailer desperately clinging to any floating debris in the aftermath of a tsunami of misspent living, I would not; and more importantly, could not fathom that there is a living and loving God, just beyond my earthly senses, 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 true 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 finally, willingly and joyfully agrees to be 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 Gods simple program 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 love when you wrote "no greater joy nor peace in living."...Thank you...armand
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