The "Big Book" Alcoholics Anonymous states, in reference to the Ninth Step and the Promises, "If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves."
If we are willing to surrender to the will of God through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous then we can be free of the manifestation of our character defects in our behavior. Our self-centered life will begin its departure as we experience serenity and peace - peace which allows us to perceive life in a way that is joyful. We can then respond to that joy with love for others even though the circumstances of our lives may be unchanged. This love for others is the expression of us experiencing a beautiful life.
Written by Armand
Michael C.
ReplyDeleteI believe that we were born beautiful - all of us. I believe “beautiful” is the perfect word to define and explain our essence. I believe that through life’s trials and travails, we somehow lose our beautiful identity and that we long for its return. I believe that, unknowingly, we turn to outside remedies for what ails us - our loss of beauty. Alcohol is merely one of the chemicals we use to try to find our lost beauty. Alcohol is addictive, compelling us to destroy ourselves in our effort to find ourselves. I believe that The Program of Recovery provides us with a solution to this essential problem, this problem of our lost essence. I believe that, for me, the solution can and must occur only by integrating all Twelve Steps into my life in such a way that they return me to the beauty of me through The Power Within me. I believe that alcohol was the force that smithereened me to ultimate brokenness. Most profoundly, I believe that through The Power Within I have been returned and restored to beauty. As a result, I live a beautiful life.
Michael a life lived my Self propulsion leads Alcoholics to a life of misery and Resentment. A surrendered life leads to joy and peace... Thank you...Armand
DeleteBeautiful Michael
ReplyDeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteIt is this gratefully recovering alcoholics understanding and experience that all of us are born into this world enslaved by a fallen human nature. Truth be told, we are all from the moment of conception, totally self willed needy little creations by Divine design. Patience and understanding are not in our vocabulary of emotions. When our needs aren’t met we instinctively propel ourselves into full throttle fits of rage until our bellies are full or a freshly powered diaper is wrapped around our bottoms. We are naturally rebels by nature. Our first self aware utterance a thunderous no!
I 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.”
This life is gratefully no longer about attempting to maximize my nature with all of its inborn flaws and follies but to abandon it completely to the Person and Power of God. No longer enslaved to a nature that can only produce the shadowy human doing that I had become. No longer vacuously stumbling through an incomprehensible world of similar lemmings all trying to swim up the same waterfall of misspent lives. What joy and freedom there is to be delivered out of that self imposed prison of desolation and desperation. There are no words fit to describe the gift, or convey the experience of the "peace that surpasses all understanding" when one surrenders to God and is finally, willingly and joyfully being conformed to His purpose.
So Lord, I acknowledge with praise and gratitude the countless good things which are mine because of my new life surrendered to You and Your gift of abiding in me. Thank You that you are not finished with me. Today I gratefully acknowledge the character and personality transformation you are performing in my life. Help me to communicate affirming hope and love to others as You have confirmed in me through my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. You have paid the price for my failures and are the ultimate author of the Steps that lead to true serenity and a boundless love for my fellows through a true and abiding relationship with You. Amen..
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic