May 11, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, May 11, 2024

” …(D)eep down in every man, woman and child is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things but, in some form or other, it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 4, p 55.6

Today, the “fundamental idea of God” exists, but maybe not so much with the agnostic and atheist. To those who grapple with the concept of a Higher Power, perhaps a first step is to acknowledge the one thing that is stronger than all of us — alcohol. In it, we have more than belief in its power: we have experience. And if we can know that something stronger than ourselves can take us to the gates of Hell, can we not take a leap of blind faith in something capable of guiding us to recovery? But even this challenge is prefaced on a single condition: we must be willing to consider that a Higher Power exists. Today, I am open to taking that leap of faith knowing that if something as strong as alcohol can kick me to the gutter, there may be something stronger to lift me out of it. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024