The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
C2C reading for today speaks about the Third step. This Step calls for turning our will and our lives over to the care of God as" we understood Him."
We need to know that the destructive power of another's alcoholism has truly effected our lives , and we need the benevolent influence of a power untouched by this disease. We can think of this care as a source of love and support that surrounds us in daily life and that we do not need to earn it, for it to be there. The only requirement to receive this love is that I need to be receptive to its power and inner guidance.
Today's reminder suggests that when we open our hearts to a power that fills us with love and acceptance, we can begin to extend these qualities to others.
The quote is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning; "God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame"
This is an important Step and one that I did not take lightly.It's great that the program suggests that we select a HP that we can trust. It indicates that having a power that accepts us with compassion on bad days as well as good is very important to our recovery.
My sponsor points out two very important issues for me to think about on this Step. The first was that we place our will and our lives into the care of HP-- that is a very gentle and loving act-HP is not a tyrant but cares for us.
and the second is that we make a decision to turn our will and life over in the Step.
Since we are very new at this, and do not know how to turn our will over completely, we can say the Third Step prayer every day, attend meetings, talk to a sponsor, use the slogans and that is the best we can do in turning our will over. When we move on to the rest of the steps our will surfaces and become more evident and then we can have more clarity. Thanks for letting me share
My perceptions of HP before program were so vastly different than now. I felt I had walked so far away from a spiritual life that I could not 'go back'...
Also working with a sponsor and program friends, I started focusing on the 'as we understood him' portion vs. the 'god' portion. It took a ton of practice and open-mindedness to come to a new place with regards to my spirituality and faith. I am forever grateful for those who helped me realize a power greater than myself did surround me, love me and support me - no matter who I was, what I did or where I had been.
My way of thinking at times is to over-think and over-complicate most things. I've worked hard to 'keep it simple' and digest the words as intended not has my brain 'sees' them.
I see this reading as a gentle reminder that our HP wants us to be happy, joyous and free. We can find peace, joy and serenity just by working these steps, trusting in the program, those who came before us and a higher power. We just need to stay open to change & feel the love...
Make it a great day!
__________________
Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret. ~~~~ Lori Deschene
As always you do a great job of explaining the meaning of each step. Before I started working on recovery and even now, I tended to think of the steps as goals that have a definitive start and end point. You always remind me that in reality they are all ongoing goals to work on concurrently at all times; that it's ok to move back and forth, up and down, over and over the steps. This helps me do better at adopting the program as a way of life, not something that I will complete and be done with.
So every day I am trying to both review my progress and start all over again! And it's working!
