As I was sitting in the Silence this morning, my mind wasn’t so silent. My ego was off making judgments about other people. But then, the Seventh Step Prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous came to mind and stopped my wrong mindedness in its tracks.

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 76)

One of the many wonderful blessings of being in Program many years and having attended I don’t know how many hundreds of meetings during that time, is that many pearls of wisdom are ingrained in my psyche (soul) and can resurface at just the right time to help me with a situation, to get me back on course.

Judgment is a character defect of mine that still rears its ugly head from time to time. It’s a symptom signaling I am into myself and making comparisons, instead of being right-sized and in my right mind. The Seventh Step is about shifting my attitude so that I move out of myself toward others and God.

Having the words of the prayer come to mind did just that, and I gratefully went back to being in the Silence with God.