Step Three
Concept Three
The reason I need Step Three is that I cannot stay sober forever on my own, because, if I am obeying my own mind, I will obey its occasional randomly occurring notions that a drink is a good idea. When those arise, rare as they are after 25 years of sobriety, I had better not be in charge of my own life. I am in charge of one thing, however: whether or not to actively surrender each day, each situation, each moment to God for direction and then for strength to follow that direction. Strength has always been given. I do not wait for the strength. I act in accordance with what is indicated and trust that the strength will be given moment by moment. This is a good idea not just in relation to drink but in relation to everything, because my old selfish way of living, although superficially conforming to western society's notion of living well, did not result in power, peace, happiness, and a sense of direction. It brought grievance, worry, disappointment, and despair. I am very small and God is very, very big. As an AA friend says: also of above-average intelligence. Another friend says we have a choice: God is everything or God is nothing. And it's a choice we make, not an analysis we perform. Today I choose God.
Tradition Three
Tradition Three
As a newcomer, I phoned Sue and said, 'I want to drink.' She replied: 'AA's for people who don't want to drink,' and hung up the phone. I phoned back and told her I didn't want to drink but feared I would. Then we were in business. No one can kick me out of AA except me, by entertaining my own thoughts about alcohol. The long form tells me AA is for people who suffer from alcoholism. I don't believe we best serve those with other problems but without an alcohol problem by trying to open up closed meetings to them. My home group holds open meetings on one day a month to help carry the message contained in the Big Book to sufferers of other problems in fellowships that use the principles contained in the Big Book. But AA got a hold of me when it did because people talked about alcohol in a way I intuitively understood. I have been to AA meetings in certain places where most of the people were drug addicts rather than alcoholics. I could identify intellectually but not viscerally. I need other alcoholics at my home group.
Concept Three
Whenever I am given a job in AA I need to have the authority to carry it out. I obtain my brief, I contemplate with God how to perform the task, I consult those who may be affected, I ask those who can guide me, I act, and then I report back. The circle is thereby closed, and the job is done. I then await my next instructions. Right of decision gives me the opportunity to rely primarily on God to guide me once I have been given a brief, recognising at all times that I have a direct responsibility to those I serve to deliver the service or product I have been asked to deliver. They dictate the 'what'. I dictate the 'how'. They have God-given delegated authority expressed by the group conscience to brief me, then I have God-given delegated authority to use my discretion to perform the task at hand with real-time guidance by God. And if I'm out of line too often, and incorrigibly so, the group conscience can remove me, and I'm now fine with that. I'm not the right person for every job in AA. To sum up, in Concept Three, I am serving God by serving others, but always under the direct guidance of God in how I do so.