Emmet Fox - May 13 2026

USE THAT BROOM!

A good housekeeper sees to it that dust and dirt do not accumulate in nooks and corners and on shelves. Periodically, the house is gone over and given a thorough cleaning. Too often in our spiritual lives, we allow negative things to accumulate in corners of our minds. We tackle the obvious problems as they come along, but allow the small difficulties to pile up in the corners.

Foe instance, if we are faced with a problem of health of finance, we get to work on that immediately, but if, on the other hand, someone has injured us, instead of handling the incident spiritually at the time, we tuck it away and perhaps pack in a little resentment along with it. Such problems should be dealt with as they arise. If someone has injured you, forgive them now, and be done with it. Take care of the other difficulties in like manner.

Be a good housekeeper. Clean out every nook and corner - and God will make you worthy of greater accomplishments in the future.

And he said unto him, Well done, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17).

As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec

Complete the Housecleaning, p. 213

Time after time, newcomers have tried to keep to themselves
shoddy facts about their lives. Trying to avoid the humbling
experience of the Fifth Step, they have turned to easier methods.
Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest
of the program, they wondered why they fell.

We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning.
They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst
items in stock. They only thought they had lost their egoism and
fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But they had
not learned enough of humility, fearlessness, and honesty, in the
sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else their
entire life story.

Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 72-73 

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Step by Step #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Step4 #Inventory #Housecleaning

  21
September

“…(W)e launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.

“Therefore, we started upon a personal inventory. This was Step Four.”




– Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), pp 63-4.

Today, I seek the courage and honesty to face alcohol as a symptom of the “causes and conditions” of my addictive personality, and I pray for the knowledge to treat those causes rather than just the symptoms. Courage, honesty and willingness are the prerequisite of the Fourth Step because, without all three, my recovery from any addiction cannot be fully realized and may set me up for failure by way of a relapse or simply trading one addiction for another. For many of us, drinking developed after years of hoarding emotional and spiritual garbage, and the pile grew in our drinking days. In coming to the decision that we no longer want and are eager to clean out the garbage, we may be on a solid foundation to make our Fourth Step as thorough as it can be. Grant that we be graced with the courage and strength to make our house as clean as we can make it. And our common journey continues. 

Step by step. – Chris M.

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