If you are new or returning to the AA Program, you are on the right page. If you are an “old timer,” you are on the right page. That’s right! New and trying to just figure out what this program is all about. Or if you have been around a while and some of the anxieties, ups, and downs are trying to come back. The first 3 Steps are definately the best place for you to be right now. The first 3 Steps begin entry into this amazing program and could not be designed any better. Sometimes, after being in the Program for some time, we sometimes feel like things “just aren’t right.” Before going too far into not feeling “just right” is the ideal time to review these foundational steps in sober living. Without them, forget about being Happy, Joyous, and Free again.
Step 1 states: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable. Step 2 states: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step 3 states: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.
We are learning that this is a very simple program for very complicated folks. So, how can the first 3 Steps be simplified even more than they already are? I believe that the simplest and best way is to use: Step 1 – I can’t. Step 2 – He can. Step 3 – I think I’ll let Him. Although Bill and Bob, the originators of the AA Program were a Doctor and a successful businessman, the program is not brain surgery. This is why it is important to learn the Program using your heart and not your head.
When in school, we crammed for an exam in order to get our best grade and then probably forgot most of what we learned. This was head learning. Don’t knock yourself out trying to memorize the Steps or readings of the Program. Work instead on working on and actually feeling the Steps. This is how to remember better. When you were younger, you were probably told to not put your hand on a hot stove. Then did you ever test this by touching a hot stove anyway? If you did, now you remember not to do it again. Much more than merely being told.
Looking at Step 1, I knew immediately that something was wrong, horribly wrong. I just didn’t know what. I soon discovered that whenever there was a problem, drinking was or had been involved. So, I knew that my life was inmanageable and was beginning to understand that alcohol was somehow involved.
Step 2 had me slowed down when I saw the part that said “restore me to sanity.” I soon realized that some of the things that I had been doing were insane. Things that a “sane” person would not do. I saws others who had been just as miserable as I who were now Happy, Joyous, and Free. They said that they were now relying on their Higher Power and that I was welcome to share theirs, if I didn’t have one of my own.
Step 3 then said that my new found Higher Power could and would help me IF HE WERE SOUGHT!. So, I tried it and it worked! All that I had to do was say “God help me” whenever I came to a crossroads in my life. After asking for His help, I then stepped aside and LET HIM. This was the key to my entire Program and I very quickly became Happy, Joyous, and Free, too! If I can do this, you can too!
I am so very grateful to the AA Program for getting me started into this beautiful adventure. And I am so very grateful for you who are in the Program who are willing to share with me and helping to keep me on this upward trail. Have a blessed day God bless you!
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