Step 6 - Recycling - Spiritually Speaking

Every week, or every other week, people put out trash cans and recycling bins so they are ready for the scheduled collections in their community.  They go through their house, collect what needs to be taken away, and get it to the curb. At the right time someone comes along and takes the contents of those bins away.

Getting the trash to the dump is not something the individuals do themselves but they are a significant part of the process by identifying and making available those things that need to go. 

In our spiritual lives God invites us to name those things that are harming our relationship with Him and with others, and to make them available so they can be removed. This is what we speak about in Step 6 of The Twelve Steps.  We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

The Bible describes the process this way:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24

What does it mean to get ready for God to do this work?  We must first seek God and give Him control in revealing what needs to go, as well as when and how.  That is the hard part.  We’re willing to work on our character defects but only on the bits we want to change, and in the time frame we want them changed.  In our mind we have decided to take control of how to proceed.

Are we willing to consider that God might know the best way and the appropriate timing for whatever defects need to be removed? 

Many of us are willing to go through this process when we come into recovery but how about in our day to day lives?  Are we willing to identify what is harming us today and are we making those things available to God to remove them from us?

If we humbly come to God and surrender all that we are to Him, God will prepare a way for us to let go of the trash we’ve accumulated.

Heavenly Father, we ask that You reveal broken ways and character defects that are impacting our lives and relationships today. Give us the desire and the strength to let go of all that hinders Your wonderful purposes for our lives today and ongoing 

Help us to be continually honest about what is going on inside and humble enough to surrender it all to You to sort out, take away what needs discarding, and recycling what still has use in our lives.   Amen

So, what’s the spiritual exercise for us in this today?  Once again, asking God to show us what needs to be discarded, taking a bit of quiet time to let Him tell us, and then asking for the humility and willingness to have them removed.  It’s not an easy process but in every area where we give God  permission we will know deeper peace and freedom than we have previously experienced.