Spotlight on the 12 Steps, Parable for Steps 1-3
By Chaplain Meg Paige
Alcohol Rehab:
In olden times, there were three lepers who heard that the
blind and the lame were being healed so they could see and
they could walk. The sick who asked for healing became well.
One day, three lepers heard that the Healer was coming near
where they had to live away from the community. The lepers
said to each other, “Let us go near to the road and call out for
healing.” Surely the Healer will hear us.” As the Healer drew
near, three lepers began calling out loudly for healing. The
Healer stopped as He heard them, and with compassion,
granted them their wishes by telling them they were healed.
Then, he told them they must go to the rabbi in their
community to verify they were healed. The Healer then
continued on his journey.
The three lepers stood looking at each other and asked what
to do next. They had no evidence they were healed. Their
bodies were still scarred from the leprosy. They argued among
themselves about what to do. One did not want to go to the
rabbi. The other was unsure whether to go or not. The third
said, “Let us go to the rabbi as we were instructed to do.
What else can we do except to go back to live in sickness and
disease?”
The three lepers started out on the dusty road to the rabbi
with hope they too might somehow be healed. They clung
to the hope that what the Healer said might come true. As
the lepers walked toward town, they began to notice
something was happening as they walked. The hope that
started them on this journey was becoming physical evidence
they were starting to heal. The lepers were beginning to see
they were healing as they continued their journey.
When the lepers arrived before the rabbi to show him they
were clean of their scars and wounds, the rabbi told them
they were healed. They could return to the community
and to their homes.
This parable applies directly to
our recovery.
In Step One,
we are asked to become obedient to what is required of us
to do for our recovery. We surrender and accept the
directions for healing. In
Step Two,
we rely on hope that supports our quest to become healed and not look back to what we were.
Step Three
is where we make the decision to do what the Healer tells us to do. As we trust in the
directions the Healer has given us, we find that we are
becoming healed; that God is doing for us what we could
not do for ourselves.
Need expert advice about drug rehab or alcohol rehab?
Reference Our Clinician Library Here
OR select one of the articles below.