I AM AN INSTRUMENT

Ah, what a beautiful theme. To be an instrument is to surrender the illusion that we are the source of our own recovery. In the Third Step Prayer, we ask to be 'used'—to be of 'maximum service to God and the people about me' [Page 63]. This is the heart of Step 12: we don't create the healing; we become the conduit for it. When we work with another alcoholic, we are not the doctor, but the scalpel. The Seventh Step Prayer deepens this: 'Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will' [Page 76]. If I'm still wrapped up in my own ego—my resentments, my fears—I'm a dull, useless tool. Being an instrument means daily maintenance: a moment of prayer in the morning to say, 'Use me today, however You see fit.' And at night, I check—did I let Him use me, or did I get in the way? The Promises tell us we will 'know a new freedom and a new happiness' [Page 83] when we become willing to be used for something larger than ourselves.