June 23, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, June 23, 2024

” …(W)e deal with alcohol — cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power — that One is God. May you find Him now.
‘Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), pp 58-9.

Today …”with complete abandon.” If I stand “at the turning point,” I am there because the ideas, methods, ploys and “half measures” I used to control or stop my drinking didn’t work. And because I haven’t come up with a better idea, what is there to lose by surrendering “with complete abandon” to the First Step that “(I am) powerless” and surrendering to a Power greater and stronger than alcohol — and stronger than myself? Moving in the Program “with complete abandon” is no “easier, softer way,” certainly. But holding onto what I have tried and which has failed is guaranteed to make my way progressively harder, maybe eventually fatal. Today, I surrender “with complete abandon.” And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024