Spotlight on the 12 Steps, Steps 7-9
By Chaplain M. Alma Janousek,
Alcohol Rehab:
After having reflected on
Steps 7-8-9,
I have come to the conclusion my defect of perfectionism and writing a
good article has hindered me from trusting that God’s
Spirit will help me accomplish this task. Even though I
have “humbly asked God to remove my shortcoming of
perfectionism,” I still struggle with trusting that God is
helping me right now to give you some information that
will be helpful. Since
Steps 6 and 7
are often called the “forgotten steps,” I will focus on them.
The first two words say “Humbly asked.” Some folks
think because they have not been perfect and hurt others
and themselves, they don’t deserve forgiveness or help.
It takes humility to admit we all fail, but by the “grace of
God” we are made in His image and have good qualities.
We need to remember God loves us just the way we are
and is waiting for us to ask for help. God works through
others and needs each one of us to help others like
ourselves. We don’t have to contort ourselves to make
ourselves change. We don’t have to force change. We
don’t have to do anything except be willing to ask our
Higher Power for help. My job is to “keep it simple” and
ask for help. No matter if your H.P. is God, your sponsor,
or the
A.A., N.A., or Al-Anon group!
I like what the Little Red Book says about Steps 6 and
7. “We are to become honest and humble; to willingly
seek God’s help without reservation; to perfect ourselves
in the practice of unselfish prayer; to be aware of our
defective character traits and to desire their removal; to
believe that God can remove them and to ask Him to
take them all away!”
We work these Steps after we have faced reality in
Steps 4 and 5.
Need I remind you the Big Book says
selfishness is the root of all our problems? And as you
reflect from your 24 Hour Book daily, we are reminded
almost monthly we have been dishonest, impure, selfish
and unloving. Being human, we’ll probably continue to
be that way and so we are grateful for Step 7.
While in alcohol rehab in O’Neill,
we have people write a
Step 7 letter to God, thanking Him for their blessings
and include a Vision Goal for a year from now. This
Vision Goal is hopefully inspired by the Holy Spirit and
fulfills our desire to be freed from our shortcomings. By
taking a daily inventory and letting go of the failures for
the day, we are trusting God will do for us what we
cannot do for ourselves. Sooner or later, we become
transformed by God’s grace... by the way, do any of you
read over your Step 7 letter to God sometimes?
Steps 8 and 9 are another two Steps that take
humility, but do not start with the word “Humbly.” It is
not a difficult thing to list the people who suffered because
of our failures. Our real problem is to arrive at a state of
mind that concedes the damage we have done and
embrace a sincere willingness to amend it. Step 8 is not
meant to punish us; it is meant to set us free from guilt,
anxiety and discord. My Al-anon book, “Courage to
Change,” suggested we might divide our list into three
categories: those to whom I am “willing” to make amends;
those to whom I “might” make amends and those I
“absolutely would not” make amends; But, as we pray
for those whom we have hurt, or hurt us, the grace of
God may enable us to start making amends to those on
our “maybe” list and in time even some of the “absolutely
not” people may appear on the “maybe” list. We need
to be reminded Steps 8 and 9 can’t be done over night,
but on the other hand, we don’t want to procrastinate
on it either.
Step 9 is “Made direct amends to such people
whenever possible, except when to do so would injure
them or others.” Doing this is often difficult and it hurts
our pride (so the need for humility again) but the rewards
are great. It takes courage to do this. So once again ask
your Higher Power to give you the grace to take the
plunge. Talk to your sponsor about any anxiety that
hinders you. And then praise and thank your Higher
Power for the freedom that you enjoy. There will be joy,
happiness and a new sense of peace when you humbly
take the action! Blessings as you continue on your
journey of growth and remember you are just where you
need to be on your journey of life, if you did your best
for today!
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