STEP NINE

 

Some of the groups round here have a reading that they call the 12 Promises. The reading they took those promises from is page 83-84 of the Big Book. I'm not sure how they arrived at the number 12. There are no numbers in front of them. At our group we do that reading but we call them the Step 9 Promises because the reading is nestled in between the ending of Step 9 and the beginning of Step 10. Doesn't take too much thinking to figure that one out.

"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. This thought brings us to Step Ten........"

This phase of our development is step 9. So, if you're going to meetings, if you joined a group, managed to get a sponsor and have been on the journey of the steps up to this point, you've probably noticed some of these promises coming true. But, if you're just going to meetings and sitting on your hands, thinking you can't trust anyone enough to let them sponsor you, that you might get around to the steps at some point and that none of these so-called promises are becoming evident in your life, well then maybe you should get off your lazy butt and start doing some work in this program because the step 9 promises won't materialize unless you do the work.