Daily Reflection

JULY 15
PRIDE
For thousands of years we have been demanding more than
our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we
seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater
dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank
for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought
we wanted.
In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned,
our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We
had lacked the perspective to see that character-building
and spiritual values had to come first, and that material
satisfactions were not the purpose of living.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 71
Time and again I approached the Seventh Step, only to fall
back and regroup. Something was missing and the impact
of the Step escaped me. What had I overlooked? A single
word: read but ignored, the foundation of all the Steps,
indeed the entire Alcoholics Anonymous program—that
word is "humbly."
I understood my shortcomings: I constantly put tasks
off; I angered easily; I felt too much self-pity; and I
thought, why me? Then I remembered, "Pride goeth before
the fall," and I eliminated pride from my life.