With a pause, I accept responsibility for the next step.
PPL. Pause Pray and Listen.
This simple admonition is Bill Wilson’s advice and direction on Step Three. In the last paragraph of the Chapter on Step Three in the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions, he finally tells us how to do Step Three.
First, we pause like so many things in this Program the simple acts belie complex results.
We pause to start the process. And complex consequences flow from that small act. In that pause, there is a pregnancy of meaning.
If I pause, then the next act or thought is a considered act or thought. It is not a reaction. It is an action. And I am responsible. With the deliberation comes acceptance of the consequences of the act. All that happens in the pause.
I might choose to seek God’s will; I might not. I might decide to dash ahead; I might not. I might choose not to choose; a choice in itself. Whatever, it is mine. I own the decision.
Accept responsibility and pause.
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