– Step Two
” …(W)e believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 2 (“There Is a Solution”), pp 25-6.
Today, if I remain skeptical about a Higher Power or even atheist, let me accept that the one entity I entrusted to run my life – myself – simply has not worked. Especially if I am in “the region from which there is no return,” may I at least want and be willing to accept the possibility that a force for the better and stronger than my self-will exists. If I am still caught up in the myth that the spiritual entity is religious, maybe I have already set myself up as unwillingness to find my own Higher Power. In holding onto unwillingness and not opening myself to the possibility, the recovery I seek probably is not in the cards, especially if I continue to do it my way although it has shown me time after time after time and time and time again that I simply cannot do it on my own. Today, enough is enough, and I take the step to at least consider the possibility that something better, stronger and wiser than myself can help me do it. And our common journey continues.
Step by step. – Chris M.