dailydatewithgod

The fourth step in the 12 step way of living is an inventory.  Just like a shopkeeper takes stock of what he or she has in their store, the recovering addict takes a look at what he or she has in stock in their mind.  Particular attention is made to looking at it through the lens of relationships with others.  The idea is to get a clear sense of how he or she has been operating prior to surrendering their drug substance of choice.  From there a pattern emerges of the tactical equipment that has been used regularly to handle those relationships with self, others, and God. The equipment is known as defects of character. An equal part of the recovery path is to also take stock of the effective kinds of character.  The ones that were operating when the addict was not inclined to use.   Knowledge of the equipment that we turn to guide us through our lives and assessing which pieces add to our peace of mind and effectiveness versus those that take away is vital if the addict wants to move forward in life without needing the substance to numb out.  12 steps are referred to as a way to live life in rough going.  I think we would be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t experiencing life in rough going right now. Taking the time to figure out which equipment is going to enable us to move the rough patches without destroying ourselves might be a good idea if we want to see the other side of it.  The equipment is not just in our minds but in our hearts. When we are at our wit’s end with the defective equipment in our minds and the effective equipment it is not easily accessible, God encourages us to slow down and tap into the equipment of our hearts.  There is a storehouse of equipment within us that has not been battered by the rough going because nothing we experience in life can remove the imprint of God from our hearts.  Taking stock of the heart’s equipment may sound painstaking and rough going on its own especially if we have allowed a bunch of mind equipment to get piled on top of it.  My daily dates with God showed me how to pause and clear my way to reach the equipment of my heart especially for the times when my mind’s equipment was on automatic pilot.  Learning to clear the path to reach the equipment of my heart is not always easy but it is the ticket to freedom I have searched for my whole life.