Wisdom From Step Eleven
Out of the 12&12, page 104-105;
“We discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms.”
Naturally I think to myself “what demands do I place on God for guidance for my life?” How about this - whatever it may be, suppose a romance going awry, and after a particularly heated argument followed by such deep ill feelings that the continuation of the relationship is threatened, I do or say something like “G dammit, why does this have to be like this?” or “This isn’t fair! Why me?” or one of thousands of variations…
This may not be true of you, or anyone else, but it is true of me. I have such a perverse faith in God that I think somehow everything in life ought to turn out fair and to my way of thinking, I should never lose that which I love so dearly. After all, God loves me, right? Didn’t He/She make this relationship come about? I Let Go and Let God and voila’! There it was…
Wrong!
Every time I question God’s will in this manner I am making a demand upon God for a life in the way I believe it ought to be. I am imposing my will upon God and life. It doesn’t work… at least not for me.
“Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God. He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does ‘move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”
A relatively rarely used definition of season - “to become mature, to grow fit for use.”
Tags: 11th-step, 2nd-step, 3rd-step, acceptance, humilityRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Courage To Change, Personal, Principles, Reality
3 opinions for Wisdom From Step Eleven
dAAve
Nov 28, 2007 at 5:16 am
… but it’s SOOOOO difficult to remember all that when it’s happening. Which is, of course, why this is a WE program. So that WE may share.
Voila!
rosemary
Nov 28, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I just went through a situation just like that,and of course it did not trun out the way I wanted and I got through it, by use the phone and tried to work those 12 steps in all my affaris. It is ok today My life is so good when i let God work in it
bigjohn267
Feb 23, 2008 at 11:40 am
Keeping an open mind while going through something that is bothersome without useung step 11 can and will cause me grief. I find it out every time.
It’s great that I have both a sponser and a network that remind me to contact God for the strenght I need to work through the problem. I only wish that I would use it every time, but I don’t and I pay for it. I guess I’m not perfect.
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