How about that Seventh Step? A friend of mine and I were talking about that Step today. I think about it a lot.
I always tell others that it’s not any of my assets, which have kept me sober. It’s my character defects that keep me on track. I often think I have so many of them that they keep me busy. I need that Seventh Step almost daily. It has rescued me any number of times from going off the deep end.
It’s not that any of my defects are all that bad. Like Bill W. said, none of us, who are sober and working this program, have any defects in the extreme. But they are stumbling blocks on this road to the spiritual life. And it’s the spiritual life we depend on for our sobriety.
This is where I need to depend on my higher power to help me get through my tendencies to wander and get off track. I’m talking about the group and the God of my understanding.
My problems come from things like wanting to close my mind down. Putting up a brick wall between me and the views of others and developing anger and resentments. They’re wrong and I’m right. Lack of honesty and an open mind. If I get stuck in that mode, it’s hard to get me out. Although over time it has gotten better. If in the morning I remember that I have these defects, it goes a lot easier. Especially, if I dedicate myself to think of God’s will for me.
When it comes to this stuff, I know that God has His part in this and I have mine. Mine is to come up with the willingness and open myself to His grace. That can be a problem at times, but like the woman in Freedom From Bondage, when I ask for the willingness to be willing, it always comes.
Anyway, I was thinking about this today.