Promises and Fruit
Promises of 12-Step Recovery and Fruit of the Spirit
“1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. 2. We will know a new freedom and a new happiness. 3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
Keller Hall Camp Mitchell
4. We will comprehend the word serenity and know peace. 5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. 6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. 7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. 8. Self-seeking will slip away. 9. Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change.
10. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us. 11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us. 12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.”—The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholic Anonymous World Services, Inc., 4th edition, 2001).
Do you see any similarity between the promises of a twelve-step program and the nine fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? Paul writes that we know and feel our connection to the Spirit, the God within us, if the consequence, the fruit, of what we do produces “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
The twelve-step promises and the fruit of the Spirit can both serve as guides—benchmarks indicating whether we are indeed on the right track—if we are connected to the God of our understanding, the Christ, the Spirit within us. When two disciplines convey a similar truth, I begin to believe and pay attention to it.
We are especially called to look for the fruit of the Spirit as we approach Pentecost. The fruit are our guides, our mentors, telling us that we are staying connected to the Spirit, the God, within us. The promises also indicate that those in recovery are staying connected to their higher power.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/