Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread

Proverbs 20:13

Sometimes willingness isn’t quite enough.

What, you say?!

What happened to honesty, open-mindedness and willingness being the only three things needed to get sober? It’s the famous HOW acronym.

If we can’t trust a clever acronym, what hope have we?

Well it works well enough to get us sober, sure. But to stay that way is another matter.

Even the AA literature from which the acronym came to be states that these three are indispensable, not a cure-all. Yes, they are needed. And yes, in the beginning they can be all we lean on for a time.

But moving past the introduction of sobriety, we will need a more firm foundation. What serves us well in infancy will not suffice when we need to stand on our own two feet.

When life shows up, and it will, we had better be ready to dig our feet in and rely on our God rather than our willingness.

We will not move past honesty, open mindedness and willingness, but we should add to them. It’s why the same AA literature later acknowledges that faith without works is dead.

I need a faith and a hope that has teeth. I need the courage and fortitude that must come from an actual power greater than myself. I need God and the fullness of His will.

God, open my eyes that I may see you.