Taking the Sixth and Seventh Steps is not always easy. We may feel that something is very wrong with us, that we are completely flawed. We may feel like we want the earth to open up and swallow us. Under no circumstances would we want our friends from the program to find out about our flaws.
We will likely go through a period where we will examine what we say and do in order to discover our character flaws and make sure we have digested them. We may remember a particular day and feel immense shame, certain that what we blurted out was the worst thing we've ever said. We are determined to get rid of these awful features at all costs.
But nowhere in the Sixth or Seventh Step does it say that we can control our character defects. In fact, the more we pay attention to them, the more they will become involved in our lives. It takes humility to recognize that we can't control our flaws any more than we can control our addiction. We cannot remove our faults by ourselves; all we can do is ask a loving God to remove them.
Letting go of something that hurts us can be as difficult as letting go of something that pleases us. But let's face it: staying with them is very tiring. If we sit and think about what it is that we don't want to let go of, we will understand that it is not worth it. It is time to let go of our character defects and ask God to remove them.
