Thought for today:
The Twelve Steps help us find a Spiritual Awakening. They are in the order they are in for a reason.
For example, we need to “come to believe” before we can turn ourselves over to the power. But what does DA mean when it says we need to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God”?
Our “will” means our thoughts and desires. We decide to turn these over to a Higher Power of our understanding.
Step three promises a better life when we turn our lives over, too. Here we think about turning our actions over to a Power greater than ourselves. We act our way to good thinking.
DA Step 3
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
A member shares:
“In my home, we weren’t religious. There was no spiritual practice. So when I cam to DA, I had to make my group my Higher Power in Step Two.
“Turning my will and my life over to my group seemed kind of drastic. But I was willing to do anything to get solvent, so I decided to devote myself to getting better with tracking my expenses and income. I got comfortable sharing my experience with others. I had PRG meetings that resulted in Spending Plans and Action Plans.
“The fellowship has grown in importance to me. And my concept of a Higher Power has evolved as well.
“I’m glad I started out with the group as my Higher Power. It made it easier to wrap my head around the rest of the program.”
How dependence on a Higher Power brings independence:
Some of us wondered if we would wind up becoming like the proverbial “hole in the donut” if we turned our lives over to a Higher Power. However, the converse is true. Those of us who have taken the DA Steps have found that they have made us more independent.
The problem is our self-will, which ran our lives before DA. We fought financial insecurity by doubling down on our debting, and risky behavior with insurance and savings. This was the misuse of will power, bombarding our problems, forcing solutions that didn’t make sense.
Even when we are new in the program, we see this self-will at work. The newcomer says “My spouse pays all the bills and my spouse doesn’t trust me with anything, so I don’t have any money – why should I track my numbers?” This statement illustrates how there is natural resistance to looking at our expenses. This is self-will and pride still running the show.
The old-timer’s response is simply, “Do you spend any cash at all during the day? Do you have any income at all? If so, those are your numbers! However humble, track them! This is the beginning.”
In Step Three we need to use willpower constructively. We need to be willing to focus on the idea of a Higher Power whose influence in our lives will become sturdier as we accept that power as our own. We use our will power to turn our will and our lives over to this Higher Power. By doing this, we will begin to straighten out our lives, becoming more independent than ever.
Ask:
Am I using my will power to turn my will and my life over to my Higher Power?
Meditation for today:
Our attention is like a microscope. What we focus on gets magnified.
If we focus on problems, they become larger. If we focus on pleasantness and achievement, they too become larger.
Affirmation for today:
“When I look for it, I find abundance in my life.”
Recommended reading:
DA’s Eighth Tool is D.A. and A.A. Literature: “We study the literature of Debtors Anonymous and of Alcoholics Anonymous to strengthen our understanding of compulsive disease and of recovery from compulsive debting.”
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Copyright 2015, PlentyOfTimeMoneyAndLove.com.
You must log in to post a comment.