Three Gifts of Spiritual Freedom
As I look back over my step-work, those first three steps provided me with certain spiritual freedoms I needed before tackling the work involved in steps 4 through 9. Now that I actually recognize them as such, I am jealous of all other forces that seek to rob me of these freedoms. Step one gave me the awareness of perpetual powerlessness. Only the man with no legs can trudge the road of happy destiny. Step two made me aware that I have a disease, and that I could not live a sane life or make sane decisions, simply by the force of my own willpower. I am therefore free from the twisted sin concept that offers only condemnation, the guilt and shame of religious self-flagellation. What I do in recovery is based on personal survival, including reaching out to others. Step Three did not give me a Higher Power, but gave me the freedom to seek Him according to my understanding. I desperately needed all three of these releases before I could face myself, clear away the wreckage of my past, and become useful to others.
The recovery process helps turn my innate-powerlessness into augmented power in the performance of the Higher Power’s design. My isolating, fatal disease is transformed into contagious health through fulfilling relationships. The freedom to seek opens the door to intuitive knowledge and the ability to trust and surrender to the Higher Power that seems to give a damn about me.
I trade my endless arguments for a little willingness and these three freedoms transfuse life into my rotting flesh.
Daily Reprieve 
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