We were entirely ready
to have God remove all of these defects of character.
~ Step Six of the Twelve Steps
Here is the paradox of the chicken and the egg. We have to work to see our many resistances, excuses, and blockages, but we also have to fully acknowledge that God alone can do the “removing!” Which should come first, grace or responsibility? The answer is that both come first. The seeming paradox has been summed up in an old aphorism: No one catches the wild ass by running after him, yet only those who run after the wild ass ever catch him. It is a lot of work to get out of the way and allow grace to fully operate and liberate. We must first fully own and admit that we have “defects of character,” but then equally step back and do nothing about it, as it were, until we are “entirely ready” to let God do the job!
I like to say that we must “undergo God.” Yes, God is pure and free gift, but there is a necessary undergoing to surrender to this Momentous Encounter. As others have put it, and it works well in English, to fully understand is always to stand under and let things have their way with you. It is strangely a giving up of control to receive a free gift and find a new kind of “control.” Try it and you will believe the paradox for yourself.
From Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, pp. 51-54
|
