Back to acceptance, surrender and submission:
From the booklet Acceptance by Abbey Press:
Acceptance is the only real source of tranquility, serenity, peace. It is also known as ''surrender," Bowing to the inevitable," "joining 'em." It can be acquired if you have an urgent desire to help yourself and are willing to ask God to help you.
From alanon one day at a time book:
"In submission," he said, " an individual accepts reality consciously but not unconsciously. He accepts as a practical fact that he cannot at the moment conquer reality, but lurking in his unconscious is the feeling: "there'll come a day..."
Acceptance = Surrender
Real acceptance = Surrender
unreal acceptance = submission
Again from Abbey Press:
In practice: face up to the problem that is driving you wild, and say, "Is there anything I can do about it right now, today?" If there is, do it! Don't put if off another minute. If there is nothing you can do about it today, acept and forget it.
You don't get over a twenty-foot wall by banging your head against it- you just get a headache. If you sit down in the shade of the wall and say, "maybe I'm better off on this side, after all." You may be sure that God will make things turn out better for you and for everyone else. This ability of his to make things work out for the best is known as divine providence.
This flies in the face of everything I have been taught. Things like:
Never give up!
God helps those who help themselves!
So now I am being told to change what was instilled in me from childhood.
To give up. To let God act instead of me helping myself. Maybe I am not ready for the steps yet.
Giving up was not in my vocabulary until the last few years. So I struggle with the thought of simply ''giving up"
It is spoken about like it is okay to give up. If I were trying to get a degree, or buy a house, or live a dream, people would say never give up, but in this case ( the alcoholic case) everybody says "Let Go, Let God." Give up and let him be an alcoholic.
I find it ironic because I used to say to my A. If your family really loved you, they would be here fighting for you like I am. (fighting to win his freedom from alcohol)
So now, you say, give up, let him be an A.
Which really makes no difference to me bc I am not with him, but still the irony stands out.
So my sponser says I am not ready for the steps.
Maybe i am simply overanalyzing everything!!
