The Third Step and the Noble Eightfold Path

Tonight I went to church with my family to attend a mass being said for my wife's grandmother. While there I found myself meditating on the Third Step, partially to give my mind a spiritual purpose while in church, and partially because Brian and I have been working on this Step together and it's where I am at right now.

Breaking down this Step, I found myself taking each term and reflecting on what it means to me.
First and foremost was that this Step was simply a decision, nothing more, nothing less. That's not to say it's not a formidable decision, because it is. It scares the crap out of a lot of new AA's. But in the end, it is only a decision. A decision that only really carries the weight of the actions that accompany it in the following Steps.

Next is that it asks of us to turn over our "will". I sat in the pew and reflected on what this word means to me, and one word simply presented itself to me: "intention". I am to try to turn my "intentions" over. As I thought about this it suddenly struck me that this Step is clearly defined along the Noble Eightfold Path, with Right Intention.

With that in mind my thoughts naturally flowed in to the fact that this Step also asks us to turn over our "life". To me turning over my life to the care of something is another way of saying that I am really supposed to try to live in the moment. I am to allow Right Intention to guide me in to have Right Speech and Right Action in all of my daily activities, at home and work. This is what will lead me to Right Livelihood, not my own selfish plans. In other words, I am responsible for the footwork, the results are up to something else.

Finally, I see that this Step also tells me I am turning these things over "to the care of". In other words, I am only to trust whatever it is I turning these things over to. I am not actually turning anything over, just asking for these things to be cared for. It is all about trust. If I don't trust whatever this Power is to restore me to sanity, how could I possibly be willing to trust it with these deeper of facets my life? No, I think that it would be pretty hard to conceive this part of Step 3 without having cleared up this matter in Step 2.

For me a major part of my concept of a higher power is The Steps themselves. I have no doubt that doing these Steps will help me live a better life. Partially because I have been doing them in various forms for years now, but also because I know countless other people who have done them and gone on to live a better life, without drinking.

Now I see I have to trust that the remaining Steps will help lead me in to live with Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. Call it what you want, but these things are powerful, and they are greater than me.