The 12 Step Program - Step 4 (Part 2)

So here we are at the ( sometimes dreaded) fourth step. Once again, please allow me to remind you of what the fourth step is:

I made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.

I have italicized what I consider to be the most important words in this fourth step. I know I’ve spoken about the word fearless, both when I have discussed the steps in the past, as well as last week’s episode. I also know I sound like a broken record at times because I want to keep reminding you how important it is to have the steps become a way of life (as we do them!). Each step really does builds on the previous step.

This means, simply, that I am really led through the steps, once I earnestly want to become honest, in a natural way. Because I found myself truly unmanageable in the first step, well, then I had to look for help. The steps tell me that I can find help in step number two if I come to believe that a power, greater than myself to restore me to sanity. Once I come to believe in that power (God) I will find a strength with which to continue working the rest of the steps. I can only ask you to believe me when I say that this is true. In my earlier years of “fooling around” with this program, I never got to the point where I honestly thought I needed help from anywhere else. I could do it myself. I could get myself well, not drink, get a job and a car, and be on top of the world. That was all fine, but it never lasted very long. I never sought the internal presence of God that could help me and give me strength and power. Now, as I honestly continue this program, I have admitted my powerlessness. Once I did that, I automatically start a power outside of myself. It was there, within me, as it had been there forever. I needed only to become aware of it and make it part of my existence. It was so big and important that in the third snap there was no question in my mind about turning things over to God. Once that happened, my spiritual responsibility wide elsewhere. The only thing I was responsible for, from then on, was to listen for the direction of my spirit.

Now, the fourth step became much easier, as well as much more honest. My Spirit (God) would guide me, and help me, to identify those things I had done in my life that have become the baggage of the present. Now I could begin my list, which would still be difficult, but with the help of my Spirit to honestly look at my past.