Step 6

"Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."

This week is a week in which we pause...

We pause to ask ourselves the tough questions of:
    ~Am I ready to give up my coping mechanisms of the past?
    ~Am I ready to live into a new future with new ways of living?
    ~Am I willing to let God do what I have not been able to?

And so we pause, we ponder and we prepare. 

This step is a reminder to me...giving up, or having God remove these defects of character, is incredibly freeing and scary at the same moment.  It is freeing for I am for the first time ready to stop the pain, the hurt, the cycles of my life that don't bring life.  I am ready for God to do His great work in me rather than me trying to do a great work.  It is freeing to not be in control!

Yet it is scary for many of the same reasons.  I am not in control!  I am not able to fix me.  I am aware of my shortfalls and the problems they have created in me and around me.  And so I am ready, but not ready. 

Perhaps you are at that same place...I'm ready but I'm not.  I'm ready until life happens and then I want more control of it.  Today, our pausing is powerful for in pausing we ponder.  In pondering, the Spirit works within us cutting the cords to the junk of our lives so God can remove them.  And we prepare for the steps, and new life, that lie ahead. 

What does it mean for you to pause, ponder and prepare?

Step 5

“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”

In our sermon yesterday, we dove into the concept of admitting our wrongs...or in the Christian tradition- confession.  Confession has been a vital component of growing closer to God and others for as we confess, we release the toxins of our soul and open ourselves to healing. 

Healing is multifaceted...healing has to do with restoration.  The goal of healing is to bring restoration to our lives and relationships.  Too often, it seems that many miss this and build walls towards others rather than bridges.

Yet in this step we are encouraged and charged with releasing those parts of us that we may have hidden for years or have thought we could hide for ever. We are invited to bring to light that which has been done in the dark. 

And the best news is that we are enabled to do this because of God within us.  We contemplated on this quote yesterday...
          "God does not love us if we change, God loves us so that we can change." Richard Rohr

How does the above quote help your perception of God?

Secondly, why do we try to avoid confession?  If you have practiced this act of the soul, what was your experience?

Step 4

"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves"

In the sermon, I talked about the reality that our lives are much like an iceberg.  We spend most of our time working on the part that is seen while neglecting the deeper parts that drive us as people, shape our reality of the world, and holds the deep rooted hurts and scars of our past.  Here is the image I shared below:

So here is a question for your pondering:

              Why do you think most people spend most of their energy focused on issues rather than on the deeper things? 

 

If we take this step seriously, we will begin to uncover some hurt, some regrets, some unknown things about who we are...our real self.  Yet until we uncover and prepare to remove these 'defects of character,' as AA calls them (we say 'sin'), our true self that God has created us to be can never be fully unmasked and invited into the Light of God's Presence.

 

If you are wanting to start this inventory, here is a copy of a great tool:

By Fr Bill W.

In 1934, when Bill Wilson joined the Oxford Group and found his sobriety, there were no 4th Step guides until 1938 there were no 12 Steps! What did exist was “a word of mouth program” based largely on the Four Absolutes or the Four Moral Standards the Oxford Group had adopted. These Standards were: Honesty, Unselfishness, Purity, and Love. Group members measured their thoughts, lives and actions against these four moral standards and from these and from other related Group practices emerged the 12 Steps.

HONESTY:

(Is it true or is it false?)

§  How have I been dishonest with others and with myself?

§  Have I lied, manipulated, cheated and stolen from others? List the big ones.

§  Who was hurt by my dishonesty?

§  How did this hurt my relationship with God, remembering that God is Truth?

UNSELFISHNESS:

(How will it affect others?)

§  How has self-centeredness shown itself in my life and who has been hurt by it?

§  Are there people, institutions or principles that still anger me? If so, is there a role I played – either bringing it about or holding on to my resentment?

§  How have I put my own self-interest ahead of God’s plan for me to be of service to others?

PURITY:

(Is it right or is it wrong?)

§  What past or present behaviors, thoughts or feelings make me feel guilty, isolated, or ashamed?

§  What are the areas of my life that I don’t want others to see?

§  Remembering that my sex powers are God given and good, where has my sex life strayed from what I believe God’s will is for me?

LOVE:

(Is it ugly or is it beautiful?)

§  How has fear dominated my life?

§  Has my life been isolated – a lonely life of “taking” rather than “giving”?

Now, with God’s help, am I ready make “love and service” my code?

Soul Detox Overview

 

Over the course of life, toxins creep into our soul.  They rest there influencing our choices and behaviors.  We don’t always know they exist until a stress reveals them.  For 12 weeks, come and learn how to detox your soul to allow God’s healing hand rest upon you and use you to heal others.

August 18- Powerless Power “We admitted we were powerless over ________- that our lives had become unmanageable.”

August 25- Attentive to Someone Greater “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”

September 1- Rescued “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

September 8- Soul Searching “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

September 15- Releasing our Past, Part 1 “Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”

September 22- Releasing our Past, Part 2 “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”

September 29- A Prayerful Change “Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”

October 6- Reconciling our Past “Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.”

October 13- The Power of Forgiveness “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” October 20- Keeping the Street Clean “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”

October 27- A New Source of Power “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”

November 3- Embodying the Message “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”