“After all, the faith we acquired by taking Step Three meant very little if we did not follow it with immediate action.”

– Life with Hope, second edition, page 15

I am grateful that today my program is one of action and not talk, thoughts, or opinions. I’ve heard recovering people talk about some Steps being “action steps.” One of the greatest gifts of recovery in my life is that it doesn’t matter so much what I think as what I do. I have found that when I do the basic behaviors outlined in our program, I recover, one day at a time.

With the help and guidance of my sponsor and fellows, through whom my Higher Power communicates, I can seek and find the behaviors and actions that allow me to live the Twelve Steps on a daily basis. In this process, all Twelve Steps can become “action steps.” Acts of service, acts of seeking connection with a Higher Power, acts of inventory, reading, fellowship, and meeting attendance, are all “action steps.”

These simple actions are the keys which open the door to a life in which fear, self-centeredness, craving, and obsession might open the way, leaving me space to grow in my spiritual connection to myself, my fellows, my family, my communities, and my Higher Power.

Final thought: Today, let me have the willingness to act upon spiritual principles in all my affairs.