The Power of Working the 12 Steps

When I was presented with the invitation to be a weekly contributor to this blog, I was tremendously flattered. I consider it an honor to receive the invitation from my mentor in the Jewish recovery community. To be of service by sharing my experience, strength and hope to other recovering Jew’s is one of the greatest gifts I can give.

Although I initially had positive thoughts about this offer, my old way of thinking started to creep back in. Whoa!!! Hold on! There you go again, taking more onto your plate than you can handle. Do you really have time to do this? You’re going to struggle to find something to write about. Anyway, writing has never been your strong suit.

In such a short time, it’s amazing what I was able to talk myself into and out of. I didn’t waste any time getting out my ass kicking machine. True, my character defects were staring straight at me. Fear, ego, pride and perfectionism began to overwhelm me and take up the space in my head.

Then, I remembered hearing Rabbi Pinson share at a meeting that if we make a commitment our courage will follow. Wow! With that thought, a switch flipped and a light went on in my brain. Immediately, I signed on to the blog and read an article from a new commenter. Without hesitation, I began to share my thoughts and feelings about the article. At that very moment, I had an overwhelming desire to participate as a contributor to the blog.

Today, I try to achieve spiritual progress not perfection. By identifying my character defects using step 4 and discussing them with my sponsor working step 5, I became entirely ready to have G-d to remove my shortcomings in step 6 and I humbly asked Him to remove them in step 7. It is step 11 that helped me improve my conscious contact with G-d to understand the knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out.

By continuously working the program of Alcoholic’s Anonymous, I was able to turn my will over to the care of G-d. This is the power of working the 12 steps. Thank you, AA, for showing me the way to live a more rewarding life!