Mark Houston Recovery

Reflecting on Step 7 in the Seventh Month

By the time we’ve reached Step 7 in the 12-Step program, we’ve anxious for results. In Floyd and my the book ‘A Twelve-Step Journey to Self Transformation,’ Floyd becomes angry while working through the seventh step about having invested so much time in the recovery process and having made so many discoveries, yet feeling in many ways that he has made very little progress.

Though he understood his character flaws, he didn’t understand why he still harbored them. When he burst into a rage after hitting his leg on a dresser drawer that was left open, he felt discouraged for becoming so angry after coming so far in the program.

Though we have come very far by Step 7, we still have a long way to go to achieve the mindset required for living a life of permanent sobriety. Otherwise, we would call it the 7-Step Program.

By Step 7, we are aware of our character flaws, but they still live within us. Step 7 is a time for us to ask our higher power to remove all of our character weaknesses from us so that we may carry out our lives in line with a greater purpose. We must be ready to rid ourselves of the self-serving character flaws that have led us to a life of chaos and destruction.

Are you really ready to let go of your character flaws� Though it doesn’t make any logical sense, we often want to continue doing things that don’t work for us. Why? Out of habit, laziness, or ignorance� After completing the last several steps, we can’t claim ignorance of our negative traits any longer.

Now we must face the harder challenge which is to break the habits of using our negative character traits. This won’t be easy, but will be rewarding on a level that is so deep it is almost indescribable – a feeling more satisfying than any amount of drug or drink could ever produce.

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