The meeting topic was Step #3, “turning our will and our lives over to the care of God.”
An AA sister opened with a puzzle, “in my way, was in my way.”
She elaborated, “We in AA talk a lot about doing the next right thing. We tell newcomers to focus on the next right thing to ensure they stay sober and live a better life. But we sometimes overlook who decides what the next right thing should be.”
“When I think about Step #3 and turning things over to God, it seems clear that God should decide the next right thing. But for years, I would think briefly of God, decide that He had better things to worry about, and that I could determine what the next right thing would be. I would do it my way.”
She continued, “doing things in my way sometimes worked. But that was bad news, not good news. Every time I did something in my way, and it worked, it affirmed my ego and encouraged me to continue to ignore God and do things in my way, rather than in God’s way.”
“So, in my way was in my way.”
“Deciding what would be the next right thing to do fertilized my ego and pride. With this fertilizer, my sensitivity, self-possession and self-seeking blossomed. I was back to my stinking thinking.”
“Alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful. But thankfully, God is more powerful, and He is patiently persistent. When I finally admit that my way is in the way of God’s way, all I have to do is abandon my thinking, and God will step in.”
We all nodded in agreement. We had all been there, again and again.
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