Reversing A Lifetime

Today’s Daily Reflection says “Humility Is A Gift.”

“As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basic ingredient of all humility, a desire to seek and do God’s will, was missing.”

That’s from pg. 72 in the 12 and 12.

Since I have difficulty with those who appear to mislead others into thinking that pride is okay, if I move on to pg. 73 I have a better understanding.

“So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time. A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once. Rebellion dogs our every step at first.”

I understand better having re-read that. I’m going to add this anyway – there are those in AA who are very well aware and manipulate these principles to their own personal gain! Someone is here who knows that newcomers have an aversion to humility and are willing to take advantage of that fact! Newcomers, be aware and beware! Focus on your recovery from our literature, please.

There was a lesson the oldtimers taught me that might be helpful. If I heard the same thing from more than one person, sort of like getting a second medical opinion, then I’d probably want to pay attention to it. If your gut tells you something might not be right, check it out with a couple of oldtimers. Your life might depend on it.