Blogs
12 steps
By Kimberly Kelly
Mar. 10, 2008 at 05:56 PM
Well here we are, another Monday… I had a great weekend. I did yard work… no, I truly enjoy that. There is nothing like getting in the zone and dirty! It was a good way to clear my mind and ponder the book I just finished. I finished this book in one week (that’s a record for me). It’s called, “Beautiful Boy” by David Sheff and it’s a look into a father (and family) dealing with their beautiful little boy, who as he got older became addicted to METH. It is not for the easily offended. It’s a raw glimpse into the nightmare that is addiction, especially as you see it in the eyes of your precious, once innocent child. I am happy to report, that this young man is now clean and sober for years and has written a book of the same story, from his perspective (it’s called, TWEAK) and I will be getting that one too.
If you know someone going through this… PLEASE, get them this book! Having just finished this (and I MEAN I could NOT put it down)… I thought I’d end with the recovering addicts prayer; and for those of you who have never seen them, the 12 steps you often hear of. Did you know the 12 steps date back to 1935 and they are still helping thousands everyday, even with drugs we couldn’t have conceived back then!
“God grant me the serenity… to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”
1. We admitted we were powerless over (name your addiction) that our lives had
become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to
them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so
would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the
power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry
this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Hope it helps someone,
Kimberly
