There Is No Gray Area
There is no gray area for me in either the Third or Seventh Steps. For me…
Third
“God, I offer myself to Thee - to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always. We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.”
Seventh
“My creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen”
These two prayers merge in my mind to become: “Father, take me, all of me and do with me as Thou wilt. Take away my difficulties that I might be an example to those I would help of Thy Will, Thy Love and Thy Way of life.”
No gray areas…
I can’t afford the luxury of gray areas. Those who know me know my story with alcohol. At the end of my drinking I was consuming three quarters of a liter of Wild Turkey 101 in three hours, could no longer achieve a drunken state, and it was pi**in’ me off! BTW - don’t screw my booze up with mixers, don’t change my cubes, and if you don’t like my drinking - there’s the door, don’t let it hit you in the a** on the way out! And that was at home with my family…
Walkin’, talkin’ attitude case.
Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps changed all that. I am grateful I am not that person any longer. Unfortunately, those I hurt want me to remain that person forever. They have no difficulty treating me as I once deserved (so I thought, not really true), like the animal I was. That is also my family and those who have, as a result of family difficulties, been placed in a position of power over aspects of my life that they truly don’t deserve to have.
My God loves me and if you don’t it truly ought not matter, but sometimes, like right now, it damn well hurts.
No, I won’t drink at it - that will spoil their judgments!
Tags: 3rd-step, 7th-step, alcoholics-anonymous, Living SoberRelated Stories
POSTED IN: The Seventh Step, The Third Step
2 opinions for There Is No Gray Area
Mary Christine
Mar 25, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Yep. We sure can get hurt. But we just keep plugging along.
Mark
Mar 25, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Yep, we certainly do, friend :)
To do otherwise would validate their judgments and character assassinations, not to mention return to them a power they didn’t deserve to begin with…
Take care - I’ll keep you and your daughters and grand babies in my prayers.
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