For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭13

The desire to want to do more than I can or should for my own sake has not left me.

In recovery, we make progress toward our Creator’s will for us by surrendering what we thought made us whole.

Then we cough up all the crap that we’ve done and try to make things right with others.

We ask God to remove the barriers still in our way as we lean towards further progress on a day-by-day basis.

If I’m not careful, I can lump the last 6 or 7 steps into one big exasperation of semi-directed prayer.

It’s good to slow down and remember that He does have a hand in this whole production. He is actually alive and moving in and through the course of my life.

It is my job to redirect my energies and focus towards Him, yes. But in step 7, I am requesting help. I am asking Him to do for me what I actually cannot.

The removal of my defects of character, regrettably, is a lifetime affair. This is a step I continue to revisit, hopefully never straying too far.

But the only way I can do the “work” here is by excavating more humility out of the self-absorbed tendencies that I continue to whittle away.

God, help me think less of myself and more of my place in your world.