Thoughts, Actions, Decisions

What does it mean to turn our Will and our Lives over to this Power? Another way to understand this idea is to equate "Will" with our thoughts, and "Lives" with our actions. When we turn over our WILL and our LIVES over to our Higher Power, we are turning over our THOUGHTS and our ACTIONS.

Turning over our will and our lives (our Thoughts & Actions) is an act of humility. Humility is not the same as humiliation, although it may feel like humiliation to our inflated egos. Humility is putting our Higher Power's will before our own. Though we make decisions about the actions of our lives, we must leave the results to God. The burden of our having to run the world is lifted.

We must continually remake the decision to turn it over on a daily basis. How do we follow through with our decision? First we have to clear away the clutter that gets in the way of our relationship with our Higher Power. We accomplish this by doing a thorough housecleaning. This is accomplished when we take Steps 4 thorough 9.

There is a riddle that is often heard in 12 Step meetings when discussing Step 3 of the 12 Step Program. Three frogs are sitting on a log that sits over the surface of a stream. The frog sitting on the left hand side of the log decides to jump into the water. How many frogs are left sitting on the log? The answer is three. If your answer was "two", you probably know how to add and subtract. What you may not have considered is that "Lefty" only made a decision to jump. He didn't actually do it!

Step Three doesn't require us to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a higher power. All it asks us to do is make a decision. How do we follow through on that decision? By taking the rest of the steps.

Even though we may try to turn things over to our Higher Power, we find that we keep taking our will back. In order to let go and let G-d more effectively, we need to find out what's getting in the way, and get it out of our lives. That's where Steps 4 through 9 comes in. We call these the "Housecleaning Steps."

After I said the Third Step prayer, I thought things would be just fine. But they weren't, because my thoughts and action were not the same as God's and I couldn't understand why God's thoughts and actions would be so completely different from mine. I got frustrated. I would cuss, and rage, and throw things against walls. What was wrong with me? I guess I didn't do Step 3 right, huh? But then I realized something. I thought I didn't do Step 3 right because I kept taking my will back. But Step 3 doesn't tell me to turn it over to God. It tells me to DECIDE to turn it over to God! But if I'm having trouble with that decision, then I have more work to do (Steps 4 - 12.) If I want to find out why I'm having such a hard time turning over to the care of God as I understand Him, then it's time to examine what it is about ME that keeps getting in my own way. Hence Step 4.

Peace,
Rick M