A Dozen Steps

Next? A Course Of Vigorous Action

by Mark on April 1st, 2008

On page 63, the last paragraph written on our Third Step says;

“This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.”

Only a beginning, there’s a long way to go…

“Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted.”

Well, of course I never attempted it, I didn’t have the problem - you did. The world did. My boss did. My wife did. Etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum.

“Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us.”

Decision? What decision? The decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. That decision!

Blocking us? Now, what the hey does that mean? Block - Something that prevents something from passing, i.e. keeps you from getting to where you want to go, which, for me, was a happy life.

“Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.”

Aaah - little did I know what this meant at first! In a couple of sentences I found out;

“A fact-finding and fact-facing process.”

“We searched out the flaws in our make-up which caused our failure. Being convinced that self, manifested in various ways, was what had defeated us, we considered its common manifestations.”

Despite what some might call “middle-of-the-road babble” I believe that it is plain and clear that “manifested in various ways” sure as heck partially has its meaning based in motives. I had never looked at the “why” of the things I’d done. There were many and they each had a root cause.

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POSTED IN: The Fourth Step, The Third Step