Step 3 (Continued)
J: Here are is the real results. The results from Step Three are very limited. (p. 63, par. 3) 'This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.'
In the case of the spiritual experience, sometimes the spiritual experience is a great effect. In most cases, it's just a beginning. We don't really get a lot -- I think although we put a lot of emphasis on Step Three, we don't--the book doesn't say we get a lot in most cases out of Step Three, because it's just a beginning. We really haven't done anything. We just made a decision to do something in Step Three.
We're going to find out later on--act we examine Step Five, at the end of Step Five, as we examine the results of Step
Five--we'll find that actually we get a lot more out of Step Five than we do Step Three. And quite naturally, because Step Five is a Step of action. So we get more from the action Steps than from just the thinking Steps. This is the first step. We haven't done anything, but just make a decision to do some thing.
I think it's quite plain after that. He says: (p. 63, par. 4; p. 64, par. 1) 'Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, (top of p. 64) which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step...'
Step Three was a vital and crucial step. (p. 64, par. 1) '... it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us.'
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand Him. Unless we go to work to remove the things that are blocking us from God, we can't carry out that decision. It's obvious. Step Three is very vital.
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