FAITH MONTH: DAY 20: “Keep Going. Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.” ― Roy T. Bennett
This is a great way of looking at Step 3. I believe Step 3 is the one where most people get stuck and where relapse happens most often.
We lose faith in Spirit and return to faith in Ego. Fear screams at us to do what IT dictates, which is a sad replay of what has already been done. Even though we have reached some kind of bottom around that, we will return to it, because we know its face. It feels familiar, just like children who are abused will cry for that person who is abusing them, because they recognize that face, that smell, that anger.
None of us is really well-suited to become strong people. We want the easiest possible road to wherever we are going…all the time…every day.
That is not how life unfolds, but it is what Ego cries out for. So, the dynamic in this whole thing is to have faith in life, not Ego. To trust that Universal Power knows what it is doing, even when we don’t. We are not equipped to know. And we would selfishly blow it all up if we did. That is the only way Ego operates. We all have plans that don’t come to fruition. Learning to let go of Ego’s ideas and live in Spirit is the only journey we are here to take.
Strength is what we get when we keep going and stop listening to Ego. We get nowhere when we let Ego drive the bus. Haven’t we already learned that? If not, you won’t be around here long. You will be right where you just left off. Some people will not get this, ever. They keep finding new bottoms and digging deeper all the time. Not necessary, but this whole thing is not for the meek or the lazy. They will never realize the bounty of happiness that recovery promises.
Some will even stay abstinent, but never achieve true sobriety, because they have failed at the acid test that is given us in the BB: “Happy, joyous and free.”
Dolphin Hug 