Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility—a word often misunderstood. To those who have made progress in AA, it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be. (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
“Humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings.” (The first word is the key to Step Seven.) (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, June 21)
Humbly in Step Seven means I cannot see myself as more than I am, as capable of effecting changes in me that it is God's job to effect, but it also means that I am not to minimise the significance of the three things I can change: my beliefs, my behaviour, and my thinking. But even with those, my beliefs are to come from God, not from self, and my behaviour is to be directed by God, not by self. The thoughts that occur to me are not my business: God must remove these. But it is up to me what thoughts I continue to think and develop and which I will abandon, and, again, it is God who provides the direction and strength on this question. Literally the only thing that is really down to me is what I will: whether I will turn to God, each moment, or remain in self, and this choice is re-posed each moment. It's like walking up an avenue in Manhattan: every few feet there's a crossroads. Although this is the only thing that is really down to me, it is everything, because it is what conditions the rest.