Nevertheless the period 1945 to 1950 was one of such exuberant success that many A.A.s thought that our future was completely guaranteed. Nothing, they believed, could possibly happen to our Society as a whole, because God was protecting A.A. This attitude was in strange contrast to the extreme vigilance with which our members and groups had been looking after themselves. They had quite prudently declined to charge Providence with the entire responsibility for their own effectiveness, happiness, and sobriety.God will do a lot, but God won't do everything. We have to do our part. If I need to go to a meeting, I have to go. God won't take me. If I need to do inventory, I have to do the inventory, God won't do it.
I've heard someone say a lot that 'God has changed him', and that there is nothing he can do: God has to do it all.
To me there is a conflation of substance and performance, here, between what I am and how I perform in the world. Has my substance changed? I don't think so. I think I'm the same person as I always was. I reckon my beliefs, thinking, behaviour, feelings, external life, and experience of that external life have changed.
The trouble with the notion of 'God having changed me' is that, although it sounds spiritual and humble, it suggests that there is no personal responsibility. So if I behave badly, that's not my fault: God hasn't changed me yet. If I still have a character defect, that's not my fault: God hasn't removed it yet. And so on.
Humility is about being right-sized. Not too big, but not too small, either.
God doesn't change me. God gives me two things: Divine Direction and Divine Power. I am the one that must take the initiative to discern that Direction and access that Power and then implement both in my life. Yes, everything ultimately comes from God, but unless I play my active part, 24 hours a day, nothing will happen; nothing will change.