[nandm]

We don’t use this as an excuse for shying away from the subject of God. When it will serve any good purpose, we are wiling to announce our convictions with tact and common sense. The question of how to approach the man we hated will arise. It may be he has done us more harm than we have done him and, though we may have acquired a better attitude toward him, we are still not too keen about admitting our faults. Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth. It is harder to go to an enemy that to a friend, but we find it much more beneficial to us. We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit, confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret.

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We look to serve rather than to gain by our actions. When our motives for announcing our convictions are to be helpful to another person rather than to bolster our own confidence in our new way of life, we are applying our tradition of attraction rather than promotion. When we seek to give rather than take, our message will have a depth, weight, and power unavailable to us when our motives are self-seeking.

We take these steps voluntarily. This act of surrender frees us of the bondage or pride. The effect of making amends for our wrongs is that the chains that bind us to our old way of living are broken. Their control over us is removed. We are set free to become the people we most wish to be.

It is easier to life a small weight, but only by lifting a heavy weight do we grow. It did not take much spiritual effort to stop drinking when we saw that it was killing us. It takes a great deal more effort to develop the humility required to fully recover from alcoholism.