4 Things To Do For Spiritual Growth

4 Things To Do For Spiritual Growth

4 Things To Do For Spiritual Growth

Hello family…

I was sitting in an A.A. speaker meeting yesterday and the speaker was sharing his experience, strength, and hope on the chapter in the Big Book titled, “We Agnostics”. He had lots of amazing insight after his 26 years of experience in the book, and he shared something I had never heard before (said the way he said it) that I thought was worth sharing with you.

On page 46, in 1st full paragraph, he shared that this is where he was taught the…

“4 Things To Do For Spiritual Growth”

  • Lay aside prejudice
  • Express even a willingness to believe
  • Earnestly seek it
  • Define what “spiritual terms” means to me

I always love when I hear a newcomer (or anyone for that matter) say things like, “I really like A.A. but I have such a problem with the “spiritual part” of the program.” The SPIRITUAL PART of the program?!?!?! That’s like the entire program!!! LOL!!! When I first came into A.A., I brought a huge amount of what I’ve called, “God Baggage” with me. I was raised in the church and needed to get to a point where I was willing to “unlearn” God so I could “relearn” God. I love that this chapter gives me very specific instructions on how to do that. But what I love more is how incredibly simple the outline really is. As in the example above, there are really four simple things I need to be willing to do to begin the process of embracing spiritual growth in my life.

After the speaker was finished explaining that, he jumped from page 46 over to page 48 and outlined something else I had never heard put this way (even though I’ve ready this chapter a gajillion times), he said…

“3 Barriers to Spiritual Growth”

  • Obstinacy
  • Sensitiveness
  • Unreasoning prejudice [e.g., contempt prior to investigation])

I don’t know about you, but I love just how clean, easy & simple those instructions are. I could totally relate to being obstinate, sensitive and unreasoning. Based upon my previous experience of God, I simply wasn’t willing to readily accept what the book was telling me as true – and was I ever sensitive (show me an alcoholic who is not)! If you had the life I had and experienced the God I had experienced, you would be a little less pushy with your proposition. As for unreasoning prejudice – I loved how the speaker gave the example of contempt prior to investigation. I can easily be that person who talks something down without ever trying it myself.

In the end, I walked away from that speaker meeting so incredibly glad I had attended – and – I was glad I had my book, a pen and a highlighter with me so I can mark down and remember what I was taught. I am so grateful for #teachablemoments today.

I hope this opened some doors for you as well. Have a glorious day in God!

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