For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭8

Seeking isn’t just looking. It takes work. It takes grit. Seeking is the act of sensing truth and not stopping till you’ve found it.

So, the well-known passage about asking, seeking and then simply finding has more in common with the twelve steps than we may think.

They’re both quite simple when you check them out up close. Nothing much to ruffle the feathers. But simple isn’t easy. In fact, it’s harder because there’s nowhere to run. No two ways to cut things.

Here’s the issue. Here’s the solution. Now take action.

The rub is in the scope. Are we willing to take action without the guarantee of immediate results?

We may get some immediate results. Often this is the case. But sobriety is more about developing spiritual character and carrying the good news to others than it is about instant gratification.

So it is in our spiritual walk that we do simply ask, seek and knock. But we must release the expectations that we bring to the doorway of the infinite.

We cannot fathom what may come next. Thus, we get restless in our seeking, timid in our asking and hesitant in our knocking.

But He is patient where we are a wreck. He is good where we falter. He is steadfast where we stray again and again.

We may not want the solutions to look like they do or to require all of us. But the further we walk toward Him and actually do begin to seek, the further into the safety of sobriety we find ourselves.

Finally, when we are confused but a little willing…when we are baffled by the whole thing—sobriety, recovery, spirituality, faith, etc.

In the primordial dawn of our new life, we must simply ask for help of those who’ve gone before us.

This is why we stick around once we’ve achieved something like steadiness in our walk. We help the next willing adventurer.

God, I want to seek you. Help me let go of me.