Step 3 -- Just this cuts through fantasy

Step 3:  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Koan: Just this.

Step 3 is absolutely crucial for my sobriety, for when I’m unwilling to turn things over to my Higher Power, I’m into self…and it’s self that got me into this mess in the first place! It would be delusional to think otherwise. Josh's point, “Just this” cuts through fantasy.  As the Big Book says, it’s the root cause of my problems. It’s that simple. 

It’s about surrendering, letting go and turning it over. I took this koan, “Just this,” into my morning readings today. At one point there was a word-of-the-day – surrender – Step 3 is surrendering. Dale H.



Thank God our founders came up with the concept of a “God as we understood Him.” You don’t like the word Him? No problem. How about God as we understand? You don’t like the word God? No problem. How about Higher Power or a higher power as we understood? You don’t like the word Higher Power? No problem. How about any power that’s greater than you? It’s all up to you and your imagination to find your own.

It took me a while to find a God of my understanding. Early in my sobriety, of all places, lying in a hammock was a turning point for me, and a beginning of understanding Step 3.  It was about surrendering, letting go, and turning my very body over to the hammock, trusting it would support me. I could enjoy just this moment completely.  John S.

Rami Shapiro writes in his book, Holy Rascals: If God is infinite, God is everything. If you say, “This is God but that it not,” your God is too small, yet not so small as to do no harm.”

Living with just this is living with God

 How do I make this decision? By paying attention to what I’m doing. This evening, Good Orderly Direction came up for me. All I need is just this to move onto what is next.  Elsie

In order for me to come to terms with my Higher Power, I had to answer these questions. This didn’t happen in one sitting -- over time, the answers came.     

•     Where can I find my Higher Power?      
•     Where can I see my Higher Power?
•     Where can I hear my Higher Power?      
•     Where can I smell my Higher Power?
•     Where can I touch my Higher Power?
•     Where can I access my Higher Power?
•     Where do I notice the presence of my Higher Power’s activity?

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The following was posted from Jon Joseph Roshi’s blog:
https://www.sanmateozen.org/single-post/2020/02/29/A-World-At-Play

...Where his friend wrote:

Over the last few days I have been feeling like the world is my playground. Somehow, I was given this life and put in this place and each moment is new and a gift.
Now I get to see a shadow.
Now my head hurts.
Now Calvin is writing poetry.
Now there are colorful cups on the shelf.
Now my mind is solving puzzles.
Now my eggs taste salty.
Then today, it is not so much that way, but different.
Now each moment is different.

No matter what’s happening, Jon’s friend seems to be fully engaged with just this.  He finds there’s nothing to add, and nothing to remove in each moment. He is showing me what it’s like when I turn my will and my life over to the care of just this …just now…just God.

Just this is a statement of what I’m doing and how I’m present in the world. Morgan

Bill K.