We Humbly Asked Her to Remove Our Shortcomings
Have there been times when I've been able to refrain from acting on a character defect and practice a spiritual principle instead? Do I recognize this as God working in my life? Well I'm not seeing the instinct to overreact slow down quite yet, but I am able to reflect afterward, calm down and talk it out with an apology. I can set my pride aside and admit that I'm wrong. I was a jerk. I was wrong, and I'll try to make it right. I can, however, swing wildly to the other extreme and become a doormat sometimes, so I need to be very careful. It's so hard to tell where my accountability ends and where theirs begins...
Which shortcomings have been removed from my life or diminished in their power over me? Pride. Greed. I was so ungrateful before, when had everything I had the nerve to still be miserable and complained loudly. Now I have nothing, and need to realize that I am entitled to nothing. I am grateful for a roof, electricity, hot water, heat and a place in my daughter's life. I'm grateful for toilet paper and clothes on my back. These are things that some people just don't have in other countries. I'm the poorest jack in town, and yet I would be living like a king in some third world country. In place of pride, I have gratitude. And for that I am thankful.
Why does the Seventh Step foster a sense of serenity?My spirit allies have my back. Sometimes I take my faults back, but they gently remind me to let them go again. It sure beats taking the opiates back. If I let the defects back, it's only a matter of time before I let the other not so good stuff back in too. I am not alone in this. I set some time aside for the Lord and Lady every night. I find peace at least for a few minutes a day, and it's better than nothing.
Mirror, mirror on the wall/ To a place beyond the coast/ You're a damned kind can't you see/that the winds have changed?
~Ghost Out
