Surrender
“By surrendering control, we gain a far greater power.”
Basic Text, p.43
When we were using, we did everything we could to run things our way. We used
every scheme imaginable to bring our world under control. When we got what we
wanted, we felt powerful, invincible; when we didn’t, we felt vulnerable, defeated.
But that didn’t stop us-it only led to more efforts to control and manipulate our lives
into a manageable state.
Scheming was our way of denying our powerlessness. As long as we could distract
ourselves with our plans, we could put off accepting that we were out of control.
Only gradually did we realize that our lives had become unmanageable and that all
the conning and manipulating in the world was not going to put our lives back in
order.
When we admit our powerlessness, we stop trying to control and manage our way to
a better life-we surrender. Lacking sufficient power of our own, we seek a Power
greater than ourselves; needing support and guidance, we ask that Power to care for
our will and our lives. We ask others in recovery to share their experience with living
the NA program instead of trying to program our own lives. The power and direction
we seek is all around us; we need only turn away from self to find it.
Just for today: I will not try to scheme and manipulate my way to a manageable life.
Through the NA program, I will surrender myself to my Higher Power’s care.