Having completed Steps One through Five, there are some fundamental recovery questions in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous that must be answered before we can move on.1) Have we omitted anything?
2) Is our work solid so far?
3) Are the stones properly in place?
4) Have we skipped on the cement put into the foundation?
5) Have we tried to make motor without sand?
If we can answer these questions in the affirmative, then we have completed the first five steps in such a way that we have acquired the humility necessary to be entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
The Big Book of AA states "if we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can God now take them all, every one? If we can answer in the affirmative we have then completed Step Six.
The Seventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous is "humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." In the Step Book it states "this lack of anchorage to any permanent values, this blindness to the true purpose of our lives produced another bad result, for just as long as we convinced ourselves that we could live by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a higher power impossible. This was true even though we believed God existed. As long as we placed self reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a higher power was impossible. THE BASIC INGREDIENT of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing."
I have learned through experience that belief in God is not enough, that we must trust in God in every area of our lives, even as our every day life unfolds. The purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to bring us from a thought process propelled by our human desires to a thought process propelled by the will of God. In the will of God our defects that exist in our human nature cannot possibly be manifested in our behavior. And it is only through true humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, that that can occur. We can free ourselves from the bondage of self, we can trust in God in all things and, if so, we are protected from the disease of Alcoholism.
Written by Armand
Following the successful completion of Step Five, including answering those critical five questions, I found that in looking back at "my work so far," I had a composite picture of what I had been doing with my life/how I'd been living which did not necessarily relate to or reveal who I am. That work was to exist in Steps Six and Seven and beyond. Recovery, for me, means finding my lost self. Not the selfish, self-centered self that was reflected in my alcoholic behavior but the caring and loving self I was born to be. The entire salvific process integrated into The Twelve Steps depends on my desire to know and love myself, provided I've properly understood what a spiritual awakening is, and what the "path" to accessing it is. It is in that exchange that I have found the Will of The Power Within me and the humility to truly attempt to carry That Will out - one day at a time.
ReplyDeleteMike love when you wrote "the caring loving Self I was born to be."...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteGod's Will for me is to lead a life of goodness and live in the spirit. The AA WAY OF LIFE is to lead a life of ethical behavior and a life seeking an ever deepening Union with God. That for me is AA in a nutshell. Best, John
John agreed on seeking an ever deepening union with God. Praying only for knowledge of Gods will for us and the power to carry it out...Thank you...Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteI love the following line from the Big Book, for contained within is the absolute truth of my inherently failed human condition whether sober or drunk. "For just as long as we convinced ourselves that we could live by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a higher power impossible. This was true even though we believed God existed. As long as we placed self reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a higher power was impossible."
The Biblical basis and foundation for these and in fact all 12 Steps of AA is clearly found in the original “ Big Book”, universally used by the founding members, before the current Big Book was ever written as a record of their common testimony to the miraculous effects of finally surrendering their alcoholism and all aberrant behavior to God as they understood Him. That book is the Bible.
This was and always will be God's divine promise and is well worth repeating as found in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” And as St. Peter further reminds us in Acts 3:19 "that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Consider God's promise gleaned from above, "Then I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The clear declaration is that God himself will do for us what we could not, and cannot do for ourselves... We need merely offer our myriad malignancy's for removal by the Divine Surgeon's hand and it will be done according to His will and perfect timing as we abandon our old thought life and cling to His. This is, for me, the essence of Steps 6 and 7.
I need only humbly acknowledge that He is God alone. That His ways are not my ways as I confess my specific sins, faults and failures and He promises to release me from the prison of sinful acts and actions that had heretofore captured every aspect of my former existence. Isaiah 43:18-19 becomes my new reality "Do not remember the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it will spring forth; shall you not know it?" Yes, by His Spirit who now resides within I do. He has carried me a long way on this journey through life. There is yet some distance to go but oh what a journey it is...
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully recovering Alcoholic self reliance is the bane of the alcoholic whether drinking or not...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteI am slowly learning as I get more sober time the great truth of what you wrote... that trust in God is different from belief in God. I can believe in God and do, but if I don't trust God with every key area of my life-- and surrender it to God-- then I'm still in self-will. Still running the show, even after eight years. And then I wonder why some of my defects are alive and well! It's a process-- but the good news is, God is always doing for me what I can't do for myself.
ReplyDeleteDan Welcome to the world of a recovered alcoholic... Thank you...Armand
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