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"It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest
on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a
subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a
daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual
condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's
will into all of our activities." [Anonymous, The Big Book, A.A.
World Services, 1939]
"Although all inventories are alike in principle, the time factor
does distinguish one from another. There's the spot-check inventory,
taken at any time of the day, whenever we find ourselves getting
tangled up. There's the one we take at day's end, when we review the
happenings of the hours just past. Here we cast up a balance sheet,
crediting ourselves with things well done, and chalking up debits
where due. Then there are those occasions when alone, or in the
company of our sponsor or spiritual advisor, we make a careful review
of our progress since the last time." [Anonymous, Twelve Steps
and Twelve Traditions, A.A. World Services, 1952]
"Working the steps is a daily struggle; the Christian walk is a
daily struggle. These two manners of living are the same, a common
path that must be walked one day at a time. The essential nature of
the daily struggle is implied in Step Ten as we continue to implement
the spiritual principles developed thus far. Jesus tells us to take up
our cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). To take time away from the
true path of recovery is to invite relapse and regression into active
addiction." [Martin M. Davis, The Gospel and the Twelve Steps,
RPI Publications Inc., 1993]
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- Continued Twelve Step programs are not short-term programs.
Step Ten clearly suggests that these spiritual disciplines need to
be practiced over a lifetime. We need to continue. In the Christian
community you will find some resistance to the long-term nature of
Twelve Step recovery. Some people think, for example, that the
long-term character of the program represents a failure to trust in
God's power to heal in dramatic ways. "God can heal you right
away!" people will say, "Why have so little faith? Let God
heal you now!" There are at least four points that need to be
made about this.
First, there is nothing about the long-term nature of recovery that
minimizes God's power. Every day in recovery is a dramatic testimony
to God's power! Twelve Step recovery is a daily miracle.
Second, one of the things we learn in recovery is that the most
important question about God's power is not really "how fast
can God make it happen?" but rather "how thorough will God
be?" If you have just had surgery for cancer your first
question to the surgeons will probably not be "how long did the
operation take?" The first and most important question will be
"did you get it all?" Recovery is like that. It takes as
long as it takes. All of us experience it as taking longer than we
would prefer. But the critical question is not about speed. It is
about thoroughness. Biblical texts about patience are an important
correction to those who insist that the main indicator of power is
speed: "A patient man has great understanding, but a
quick-tempered man displays folly" [Proverbs 14:29].
Thirdly, we all know that there are ways to bring recovery to an end
quickly. We can stop. It's as simple as that. We are often tempted
to do so. Or we can switch addictions. That can happen really fast.
Instantaneous deliverance from alcohol is not that difficult to
achieve if you just replace alcohol with sex, or food or religious
practices. But these quick fixes do nothing to help us with the core
problems we face. It is important to emphasize, of course, that God
does sometimes do things quickly. An appropriate response to this is
gratitude. Thank God for every little bit of recovery that comes
quickly! But don't be misled into thinking that everything will
happen fast. Although some of us know people who have been
instantaneously delivered from a craving for alcohol, few, if any,
of us know people who have been instantaneously delivered from the
effects of years of abusing alcohol on their character and their
family. If the only problem was the alcohol then you just stop
drinking and the problem goes away. But the problem is not the
alcohol. The problem is us. And we will take time to change and
heal.
Finally, it is important to remember that resistance to the
long-term nature of recovery may just be a disagreement about words
rather than substance. There are very few, if any, Christians who
will say "I don't believe in discipleship programs because they
underestimate God's power to heal quickly." The word disciple
is a long-term word. It's okay to say, "I'm going to be a
disciple for the rest of my life." Twelve Step programs are
exactly the same kind of thing. Some things are necessarily lifetime
things. Discipleship is one of them. Recovery is another.
- To take personal inventory The purpose of a daily inventory
is to build the practice of self-examination, confession and making
amends into the basic structure of our lives. By now we have worked
the program enough to recognize that we easily retreat into
self-deception. We forget easily. It's like looking in a mirror and
then forgetting what we look like:
"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is
like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at
himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
" [James 1:23]
A daily inventory helps us remember who we are. If we are obsessing
about things again, comparing ourselves to others, trying to control
things we cannot control, then this Step offers us a kind of early
warning system that the process is not on track and that we need to
be diligent about the spiritual disciplines that have already helped
us so much.
- Promptly The issue of promptness in admitting our wrongs is
one of the elements of growth in this Step. One of the things we
probably learned as we worked through Steps Eight and Nine is that
postponed amends become much more complicated. This painful
recognition is what will motivate us now to grow in our capacity to
be disciplined about a daily inventory and prompt about making
amends. This is Paul's encouragement in Ephesians 4:
"Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do
not give the devil a foothold."
Jesus made essentially the same point when he said: "Settle
matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do
it while you are still with him on the way [to court]" [Matthew
5:25]
Go
on to Step Eleven
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