Thought for today:

We come to DA knowing full well that our debts are out of hand.  We admit we are powerless over debt in Step One.  In Step Two, we come to believe that a “power greater than ourselves (the DA fellowship, our DA group, the “Collective Consciousness”, our Higher Power) can restore us to sanity.  (And for us, solvency is sanity.)

Step Three asks us to decide to pursue an attitude adjustment, the process of turning our thoughts and our actions over to the fellowship of Debtors Anonymous and our Higher Power.

Why would anyone want to do that?  Isn’t there an alternative?

Step Three

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

A quote from “Alcoholics Anonymous”:

If we are honest with ourselves as compulsive debtors, we realize that we have done a poor job up to this point.  We have not behaved sanely.

Step Three is at a crossroads.  Either we decide to change the person who walked into the rooms of DA, or we don’t.  And if we don’t change, we will likely repeat the misdeeds of the past (and probably worse).

Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book Trade Edition

On the other hand, there are many rewards to making the Step Three decision.  These benefits are best described by a section of the Big Book, “Alcoholics Anonymous” that has come to be known as the “Third Step Promises”. :

“When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our own little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.”*

Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book Pocket Edition

Ask:

Am I ready to abandon myself to my Higher Power, and ask to take away my selfishness?

Meditation for today:

It is not easy to let go.  All of life is a process of letting go and becoming. We let go of the womb to be born.  As children growing, we let go of clothes we have outgrown to get new ones.  And as we grow in maturity, we “put away childish things”.

By discarding our prejudices,  pride, anger and self-justification, we can lighten our load enough to see ourselves as our Higher Power sees us.  We become a new creation.

Affirmation for today:

“…We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.”*

Prayer for today:

“God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”*

* Alcoholics Anonymous, page 63.

Alcoholics Anonymous: Reproduction of 1st Edition

Follow Through:

Charlie and Joe are members of AA.  In these audio tapes they explain the AA Big Book, “Alcoholics Anonymous”.  The tapes are very informative, appropriate for group study, especially for newcomers.

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