My family & I took step 3 very seriously. My wife taught me very early in my sobriety through her example that she was willing to let God make decisions for her. I remember when our business was going through a really tough time, I was going to go back to work again. She then reminded me that about our 3rd step decision. I remember her words were :" I am prepared to go back to simple basics in life." We have built all of our own furniture in our home. We have learnt to live on basics even when we had plenty.We never bought anything on credit unless it was necessary.
The AA book says that "selfishness" is the root of our trouble, not alcohol. "Our liquor was but a symptom." I made a decision then that I will let God make my decisions for me. He knows the future, & therefore able to guide me in making good decisions. It's worked & fear has left me. We practiced these principles in all of our affairs. As a result our life has become stress free. We have beat the world system by not subscribing to it's demands & lures.
Sobriety has become natural, life has become easy & relationships are peaceful and respectful. We run everything on a one day at a time basis, even our little company, knowing that God is faithful. Faith has become our refuge at all times & faith without works is dead. So AA meetings & work with newcomers plus our daily program has been what has kept us sane.
thanks gonee, such a wonderful example. I was thinking about stress the other day and figured that stress equaled expectations over time. If we take away Time, the stress goes away. We always talk about expectations being the problem, but it's really expectations about time. Eventually you can eat an elephant, but it's doubtful that it will happen by next week. If we are patient and persistent just about anything is possible. It's just trying to predict how much time it will take. Take time out of the equation and no more stress. I've been building a house on top of a mountain, 750 miles away from home, for 8 years now. It's a vacation home for retirement. I am 51 years old now (43 when I started and 39 when I bought the land), and retirement isn't for 10-15 more years. I've never borrowed any money to buy the land or build this house. I've gotten stressed several times, when I've tried to predict the time it would be finished. As soon as I let go of the schedule, poof, the stress was gone.
I am struggling with expectations and being present in my day. I know that it's fine to work towards something like building a house. I feel I must come to believe that the worthiness resides ultimately in today's task, the construction and actions of today, not waiting for tomorrow.
Thank you for sharing how you have chosen to live, gonee.
Living life truly believing in the "care of" helps our fallen nature reach toward serenity and not so much anxiety...Easier said then done,but thats why we practice daily!!! Blessings to you and your family Gonee.......
__________________
Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
