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
Michael C.
ReplyDeleteIn answering the key questions at the end of Step Five, the words “our satisfaction” are used to bring us to the action of Steps Six and Seven. I conclude this to be a clear invitation to deeply examine the issue of Trust. In this case, do I trust myself? Am I doing the work or just doing the words? In my experience, I’ve had to redouble my commitment to understanding and living in Trust. It has only been by integrating all Twelve Steps into my life that I have been able to identify and then personify the man I was born to be. Each of The Steps enables an unfolding within me. Followed and integrated, I have received the benefits of The Big Book program of recovery. I trust is simply enough.
Michael the 12 Steps of AA leads us to the truth which is part of the definition of trust...Thank you...Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteThe Biblical basis and foundation for all 12 Steps of AA is clearly found in the first “ 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 to God as they understood Him. 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. This is the essence of Steps 6 and 7.
It begins as I confess to God that I have tried to live my life within the narrow limited dimensions of my own will and strength. I am painfully aware of my inadequacies: My love is shallow and sometimes selfish; my feelings are too often distorted and easily hurt; my patience has a short fuse and my disposition and attitude too often reflect my disappointment with life and the people around me; My anxiety over social and world conditions reveals how little I truly trust You. I have often ordered my life around my own abilities and skills that denies the adventure of the life that You have prepared for me from before the foundations of the earth; Forgive me Lord for forgetting that You are able to do in and through me what I could never do for myself!
So Lord forgive me for my specific sins, faults and failures as I accept Your promise to release me from the prison of sinful acts and actions that had heretofore captured every aspect of my former existence. I rejoice that 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 inside me I do. He has carried me a long way on this journey through life. There is yet a long way to go but oh what a miraculous journey it is...
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic if one can have a favorite scripture, this is one of mine...Thank you...Armand
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