The Sixth Step of Alcoholics Anonymous is, "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character". The original draft of the Big Book used the word "willing" instead of the words "entirely ready". I found it helpful to incorporate both into my Sixth Step, so that I had the willingness to be entirely ready.As an alcoholic, giving up control is awkward and strenuous - I would rather apply some sort of cognitive therapy or behavioral modification to control my defects. But practicing that method is like applying a band-aid to a festering infection, it does nothing. Control of defects is not the snag, but rather that our human defects are not to exist in our behavior, as it is our defects that are keeping us from the perfection that God seeks in us. God seeks for us to be the human being that He created us to be, thereby able to maximize our human potential.
When we are in the will of God our human character defects, which exist only in our human nature, cannot possibly manifest themselves in our behavior.
Yes, I am willing to be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Written By Armand
After finishing The Fourth and Fifth Steps, I was entirely willing but not entirely ready. Thus, I'm glad you made the distinction. My fear was that as destructive as my defects may have been, they were all I knew. Somehow they had gotten me to the dance, although I showed up drunk and found that I didn't know how to dance in the first place. In The Sixth Step, I learned that my character defects could be replaced by character qualities of my own design through the guidance of The Power Within me. In this step, I would have the opportunity to get to know someone whom I knew very little - me. Further, I learned that by being entirely willing AND entirely ready, I would understand the distinction between Michael the boy and Michael the man. That growth was something I yearned to experience. It was only through the preceding and the following Steps (as outlined in The Big Book) that my life moved in that direction in a real and desirable way. The Power Within me imbued me with the grace to be the person I was born to be. In he last analysis, I truly wanted only that and the ability to then give myself away.
ReplyDeleteMichael many of us needed God but we did not know. We used alcohol to Experience that which we were searching for. The bottom caused by alcohol placed us in a position to be willing to receive that which we always needed...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteGiving up my character defects seems difficult because they are all I know-- who will I be without them? Perhaps I will only be the "hole in the doughnut," as the AA saying goes-- i.e., nothing. But it isn't God's will that I be nothing, it's that I be useful-- to God and my fellows, as the Seventh Step prayer says. So I must surrender the character defects which prevent that usefulness. Which ones are those? I can't know the answer, only God knows. All I can do is be "entirely ready" for the answer, and that means practicing willingness, as you remind us.
ReplyDeleteDan yes, in the will of God we are free of the manifestation of our defects...Thank you...Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteFor this gratefully recovering alcoholic, it is not about me attempting to maximize my nature (the real me) with all of its inborn flaws and follies but instead to abandon it completely to the Person and Power of God. The Divinely inspired and instantaneous segue from step's 5 into 6, described by the founders so many years ago, simply articulates the new state of being they found themselves to be in after having completed the previous steps and is a most apropos description of the result of the indwelling love, power and presence of the Holy Spirit of God, who lovingly compels us to continue this new "journey" into the limitless expanse of His Person. Enjoy the following gleaned from my book of daily devotions as authored by Lloyd John Ogilvie, which I humbly suggest to be a most apropos sixth / seventh step prayer to the God of my understanding..
"Lord Christ, when I experience Your fullness in my emptiness, I receive Your mind for my thoughts, Your nature for the formation of my character, Your Person for the shaping of my personality, Your will for the direction of my will and Your power for my discipleship. Each day as I yield my inner life to the formation of Your character in me I am able to face the struggles of my outer life.
Today I can face the three most troublesome struggles of life. First, thank You for helping me overcome the struggle with my human nature. When I admit the impossibility of changing myself with resolutions and self-improvement disciplines, You take control and perform the continuing miracle of making me like Yourself. Second, You free me from the struggle of being humanly adequate. I know I am insufficient for the demands of life, but I also know of Your all-sufficient adequacy. I can't imagine any problem You cannot help me to solve, any person You can't love through me, any challenge You can't give me strength to tackle. Third, I don't have to struggle with worries over what the future holds. I can relax. Whatever I face today will be an opportunity for new dimensions of Your character to be formed in me."
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gtatefully recovering Alcoholic wonderful prayer...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDelete