July 1

PATIENCE MONTH: DAY 1:

“Patience is power.

Patience is not an absence of action;

rather it is “timing”

it waits on the right time to act,

for the right principles

and in the right way.” ― Fulton J. Sheen

Step Seven is a biggie. For me, the biggest of the steps. In Step Six, I spent time becoming ready and willing to allow these character defects to be removed. Now, I am ready and must use the humility I learned to ask that it be done.

Patience is the quality of waiting for the process that is to take place. I will do my part in this step, but the first thing I must remember is that this all happens in the time of the Universe and an All-powerful Creator. I do not get to set the timing. If that Power can bring me to this point, it can certainly know when my character defects are of some purpose to the Universe and when they need to be removed. My humility in asking Power to do this is that I DO NOT KNOW how that will be done, when it will be done, or what it will look like.

For me to believe that I am able to remove my character defects is more of the insanity I got in touch with in Step Two. And more of the ego and Screaming Purple Monkeys. I am not driving this bus, or we are ALL in trouble!

So, I ask and I know that what happens is this: my thinking will still tell me to do those things that keep me from the Sunlight of the Spirit; and I will not have to act. I can sit still and think things through in meditation; knowing that SPM is just one voice. The one I need to access and listen to is the voice of the Power that lives in my heart. When I act from my heart and not SPM, I am okay. I am NOT participating in the craziness of my addict brain. Okay!

That is how Step Seven works. I recognize the driving power of the SPM, I see how that is not my best way to act, which tells me there is something bigger and better than me out there. I turn my life over to it. I get more evidence that I am up to no good when I listen to the SPM. I share that evidence with someone and they give me additional help in seeing what my character defects are and how they destroy my life. Then I get ready to move into a new way of living in the world and in relationships with others. Now, I ask that I be given a stronger sense of right and wrong and the Patience to sit still long enough to know which way to behave.

That is the deal! We have come to a new fork in the path. We are NOT going to run around like a crazy person, trying to bend life to our will. We are at peace with life, more and more often. We are going to walk into the world with great, big Power running things for us. Yay!

Now, we will learn to do it differently. It will be uncomfortable. We will be doing life on a new footing. It is good and wonderful, and none of us does it perfectly; but we have patience and keep going.