12 Steps Freedom Arch
We are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last.
Foundation - Willingness
It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start from that point. Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what I saw in my friend. Would I have it? Of course I would!
Cornerstone - Belief
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
1 - Admit
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2 - Power
3 - Decision
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God _as we understood Him._
4 - Inventory
5 - Admit
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6 - Remove
7 - Humbly
8 - List
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9 - Amends
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10 - Continue
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11 - Prayer
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God _as we understood Him,_ praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12 - Help others
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Keytone - Freedom
This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.
Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last.