Step Seven says : Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings
We are talking a lot this week about loss, particularly the loss of our character defects and shortcomings. While someone who has not experienced addiction might not understand the oddity of the concept, I am trusting you are all on the same page with me. Today I want to take a shift and talk a little bit about focus. It is very easy after this step to feel several ways. First, you can feel elation, relief, and even slight euphoria at the hope and possibility of transformation and freedom! Second, you might feel empty, lost, and alone at the loss of the attitudes, behaviors, and relationships that were comfortable to you. Thirdly, you might feel a mixture of both moment by moment and hour by hour.
Remembering that the work of removing the defects is God’s, I want to point you to the concept of focus. Our minds are the seat of our addiction and that addict mind can kick in very subtly and without notice. It can, if we are not focused, derail us faster than we even see what is happening! We need to keep our minds focused on what is going to keep us on track. Paul expressed it this way,
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
If you are anything like me, the list of defects that you are bringing to God this week is long and contains more than one defect. That can seem like an overwhelming task and we can either let our thoughts take us into self-sabotage or we can try to “help” God with our transformation. May I remind you that Recovery is a process and does not happen overnight. Part of our surrender in Step Two and Three is remaining surrendered to His plan for recovery and His time. Our part of the work is patiently co-laboring with Him and focusing on one day at a time.
Tomorrow we will be finishing Step Seven, you must complete the Step work before moving on to Step Eight next week. If you still need extra time to do some of the work for any of the previous Steps, please take it. When you are finished, you can come back and begin with Step Eight.
lisa g. obrien 