A Dozen Steps

Third Step Promises

by Mark on March 24th, 2008

We’ve seen the First Step Promises, the Second Step Promises, now here are the Third Step Promises from the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo!

1. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. (58:1)

2. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. (58:1)

3. Their chances are less than average. (58:1)

4. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. (58:3)

5. Without help it is too much for us. (59:0)

6. But there is One who has all power-that One is God. (59:0)

7. Half measures availed us nothing. (59:1)

8. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. (60:1)

9. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. (60:1)

10. We were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (60:2)

11. Probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (60:2)

12. God could and would if He were sought. (60:2)

13. That any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. (60:4)

14. Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. (62:1)

15. We invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. (62:1)

16. So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so. (62:2)

17. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help. (62:2)

18. We had to quit playing God. It didn’t work. (62:3)

19. 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. (62:3)

20. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. (63:1)

21. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. (63:1)

22. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. (63:1)

23. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn. (63:1)

[Updated to bring it into the now.]

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POSTED IN: The 12 Steps, The Third Step