I was thinking today of something very basic to all of us. The second step. How easily this step can slip by us and how much I need it on a daily basis. It’s easy to forget that we have but a daily reprieve from our alcoholism and alcohol. On any given day I can slip back into the insanity and powerlessness.<\/p>\n
An interesting thing came up in the news last week. It seems that Mother Teresa wrote something in her journal about losing contact with God. I didn’t get the whole story, but I know that she went through a period in her life, when she seemed to have lost her faith. But guess what? She continued to live her life as if she had faith in God.<\/p>\n
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. Bill tells us that and that we needed to find a power which could empower us to live this life. How I struggled with this, when I came in. I can still find myself struggling with this when it becomes all about me. My ears get all drunk again, when I find myself yammering and not listening. I can become that way, when I get all caught up in my “problems” and trying to solve them myself. What ever made me think I had that power?<\/p>\n
It all gets down to trust for me, doesn’t it? Instead of going into a complete stage of panic, when these things come up, I need to learn, like Mother Teresa, to calm down and wait. I can do this if I live my life acting as if, when I feel like I’ve been abandoned by God. Like a veil has dropped between Him and me.<\/p>\n
My sponsor told me a long time ago, when I was having trouble, to go back to the first three steps. He told me to get quiet and look at these and to reaffirm what I found there. He told me that I would find my feet planted on firm bedrock, if I did this. He told me that when I had done this and was settled down, then I could proceed. What a wise man he was. It works.
\nIt always does.<\/p>\n
He also told me that this process wouldn’t take long. All I had to do was do it.<\/p>\n
Today at the meeting we talked about the second step. It’s the beginning of the solution. I need to hear other’s experiences of what that step meant to them and how they found the solution to their problem with alcohol. That’s what I need to remember. This whole way of life began with the fact that I had a problem with alcohol. This spiritual way of life did not begin because I wanted to become a spiritual person. It began because I couldn’t stop drinking. I needed a solution. I found it in the second step.<\/p>\n
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was thinking today of something very basic to all of us. The second step. How easily this step can slip by us and how much I need it on a daily basis. It’s easy to forget that we have but a daily reprieve from our alcoholism and alcohol. On any given day I can … <\/p>\n