An "As if" Life

If the first part of our work is to believe that God might remove a particular defect of character without feeling any need to text us or put a post on Facebook acknowledging his efforts on our behalf, then it makes sense that we test the theory. We behave AS IF HE HAS REMOVED THE SHORTCOMING. This, of course, requires that we thoughtfully strategize about what that might look like and develop a plan of action.

What if he hasn’t? We will know soon enough. Our shortcoming will continue to show up. Bad news tends to travel fast. This is to be expected so we can also plan accordingly for those incidents. I am weirdly excited about this phase of recovery. I have skills for this work!

If God has not seen fit to remove a specific flaw, I know what to do next. I can do a Fourth Step, then a Fifth Step, repeat the Sixth Step and return to the Seventh Step whenever I notice that my shortcoming is still alive and well. Most often we discover this once we get to the Tenth Step (We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it).

We are capable of doing this work because we have already acknowledged that our shortcomings are harmful. But we have mad skills so there is no need for fear or self-condemnation.