For grace not to be construed as a haphazard lottery prize but a universally available commodity not always accessed, one must assume that its ineffectiveness is being blocked from the inside.
What blocks grace? Lots of answers. Chief among them:
- Haughtiness
- Conceit
- Certainty
- Complacency
- Asleepness
Of these, the worst is asleepness. The point about asleepness is that one is, well, asleep, unaware of the deadness in the eyes, the boredom in the voice, the lazy adherence to systems, procedures, habits, and nursery precepts, the gradual sinking into the mud of conventional thinking, the automatic alignment with the environment, the going with the flow, regardless of whether the flow is going to take one over the weir, down the drain, or off the edge of the flat earth.
Consequently, the most vital tool is the use of a spiritual alarm clock.
What wakes a person up?
- Quarterly inventories (whether one thinks one needs them or not)
- Reading and hearing step fives
- Going to unfamiliar meetings
- Really listening in familiar meetings, particularly to people one might have 'written off'
- Reading and listening to jarring material
If these punctuate the schedule, the risk of falling or staying asleep is minimised.