Simplify don’t amplify! The AA Program is a very simple program for very complicated folks. I believe that this is even more true for people who have been in the program for longer lengths of time. When new, we see others who are Happy, Joyous, and Free and it is much simpler to copy what they are doing rather than attempt to analyze each action. There are those that begin working this amazing program filled with awe at how well it is working for their sponsors and others they are meeting at meetings and gatherings. Then, being the critical, analytical, suspicious types that we are, we try to analyze just how does this program work. The answer to this couldn’t be simpler. It is ‘It works very well, thank you!” Now, just leave the analysis to other researchers and continue doing the next right thing. THAT’S ALL, FOLKS!
As we have discussed many times, Spirituality is the foundation of this remarkable AA Program. This may be daunting to the AA newcomer or the AA veteran who is attending the meetings but not really working the Program. At no place in the 12 Steps, Big Book, or any other approved AA concept is it found that we must be beholden to God or Jesus or Allah or Buddha or any other religious entity. We keep repeating that this is a very simple program for people who have had a lifetime of complicating everything.
The only things that this Program asks is for us to know that we are powerless over alcohol and our lives are unmanageable. (Step 1) Then, believe in a Power greater than ourselves. (Step 2) If you have a problem with this, then just think of the sun rising and setting at exact times over millennia. Or of our heart that keeps on beating without our even thinking about it. Birth. Or the changing seasons. There is a Power “out there somewhere” that can not be seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted directly. In many of our human experience, if It can not be identified by one or more of our senses, then It is not real!
Now that we can put some sober thought into it, there is SOME kind of Power “somewhere.” It is real, and not me or you. Now, the Program asks that, since you can see the results of this Power in action, you come to believe that you can tap into it. It is there for us all to use. But it must be wanted enough to be asked for. “God could and would if He were sought.” One HUGE difference between the God of my upbringing and my Higher Power that I have now is that the God of before was a punishing, judgmental God. It was “Out there somewhere.” The Higher Power that I know now and choose to call God is not “Out there somewhere.” It is inside me and you and everyone else. In our hearts and souls. It IS our hearts and souls.
I now choose to call my Higher Power God. Another name for my Higher Power is Love and Love is not punishing or judgmental. As Reverend Stephanie Sorensen, of The Flint Life Enrichment Center said recently in her weekly talk “If you are judging you are not loving and if you are loving you are not judging.”
So, what does Spirituality have to do with how I work my Program? Only EVERYTHING!!! Emmet Fox says that the commonest mistake many make when thinking of what their Higher Power is is picturing It as a man like entity. Whenever I felt guilty about anything, I pictured a white man with long hair and beard sitting on a golden throne ‘up there’ keeping score of whatever I was doing right or wrong. Then punishing me when I was wrong. Wrong is also used loosely here because, many times, I was not even sure if what I was doing was right or wrong. A little thought should let me know beyond a doubt that a man figure could not do all that I could see around me in the form of miracles such as life, even a small portion of it.
So, how do I work my Program? I first admitted and accepted that I was powerless over alcohol and that my life had become unmanageable. (Step 1) After watching others in the Program living ever better lives, I finally came to believe that a Power greater than me could and would help if only I would humbly ask. (Step 2) Then I did the most powerful thing that I believe that I had ever done up to date in my human experience. I turned my will and my life over to this ‘unseen’ Power and said “Since I have tried to change for most of my life and failed “Please, God, help me!?” (Step 3) AND HE DID!
To this day, I say that I need help from this Power and I get it. Each and every time that I humbly ask Him. To do this, I use the shortened version of the 3rd Step. I simply say “God help me.” Then I step back and let Him. This makes me truly Happy, Joyous, and Free. Through thick and thin. Good and bad. Through it ALL. This does not mean that I selfishly find humor in everything but I do find Peace and Serenity inside me through it all. A tremendous bonus is that FEAR NO LONGER EXISTS! God bless you!
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