4th Step
Four
07/Jun/08 Filed in: 4th Step
It's easy to justify my own bad behavior. I was
provoked, or I had no choice, and, besides,
everyone acts that way. I can pretend that my
wrongs are right—or I can begin to deal with my
denial. This is what the Fourth Step is all
about.
It's a searching and fearless moral inventory. It can be fearless because of the spiritual foundation I have begun to develop with the first three Steps. It is moral because deals with what is right and wrong with my conduct. And it must be searching. I must push past my denial to find the truth.
I'm a human being with faults and with virtues. I need to know the real me to understand what I'm working with.
It's a searching and fearless moral inventory. It can be fearless because of the spiritual foundation I have begun to develop with the first three Steps. It is moral because deals with what is right and wrong with my conduct. And it must be searching. I must push past my denial to find the truth.
I'm a human being with faults and with virtues. I need to know the real me to understand what I'm working with.
—Anonymous
Both Sides of the Ledger
25/Apr/08 Filed in: 4th Step
As I uncover and face my character defects, my
good qualities, the talents and gifts that God
has given me, are revealed to me. They not only
offset my faults, they are the foundation that I
have been given for growth.
It is just as self-deceptive to discount my good qualities as it is to try to justify my shortcomings. That is false humility which is just as hampering as arrogance. The purpose of examining our character, and doing it with honesty and detachment, is not to exaggerate our guilt; rather, it is to learn the the good things we have to use to begin to overcome our faults.
It is just as self-deceptive to discount my good qualities as it is to try to justify my shortcomings. That is false humility which is just as hampering as arrogance. The purpose of examining our character, and doing it with honesty and detachment, is not to exaggerate our guilt; rather, it is to learn the the good things we have to use to begin to overcome our faults.
—Anonymous