A Dozen Steps

Freedom

by Mark on July 4th, 2006

It feels like an appropriate day to talk about freedom.

According to the “Big Book Index” there are four references to “freedom” in the Big Book.

Pg. 62 - “This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.”

Pg. 83 - One of the Promises, “We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.”

Pg. 87 - In a discussion of the Eleventh Step, “We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. You can easily see why.”

Pg. 160 - Speaking of the early days of AA when a couple of the original members opened their own home to newly discovered sufferers, “Many a man, yet dazed from his hospital experience, has stepped over the threshold of that home into freedom.”

And, thankfully, the story “Freedom From Bondage” remains in the back of The Big Book at pg. 544. In her story she talks early about what I feel has become my freedom. She says “A.A. has taught me that through this simple program I may experience a change in this reaction pattern that will indeed allow me to match calamity with serenity.”

Peace of mind. In the face of chaos and turmoil, in the face of emotional upheaval, despite world events, peace of mind without having to drink alcohol. I no longer have a need to escape from the bondage of my own brain, I no longer have to always be concerned about where my next drink is coming from, I no longer have to wonder when the next shoe will drop. My God has taken care of all that, for me. And I am thankful beyond description.

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POSTED IN: The 12 Steps