The Seventh Step

Posted on June 24, 2026, tagged as

“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”

Thus far on the heroic journey of recovery, our traveler has quit drinking, drugging, gambling, or whatever, surrendered his or her will and life to a higher power, agreed to try to live on a spiritual basis, taken a deep look at the past, shared this life story with another person, and decided to be willing to become a better person. Clearly, this doesn’t just mean giving up the addiction. That is only the starting point. Our hero has realized the necessity of character building.

There is much discussion in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) of humility as an essential personal characteristic required to become this better person. So, what is humility? There are many useful definitions readily available. I like the idea of humility as the state in which we no longer compare ourselves to others, nor do we judge the quality of ourselves or others as good or bad. The humble person no longer tries to control life, his or her own or anyone else’s. He or she has come to accept that there is a higher power, and he/she is not It. Humility requires the deflation at depth of the grandiose, ungrateful, and infantile ego.

Our hero on this journey must give up the ideal of perfection, for himself or for anyone else. We can no longer blame anyone for their imperfections, ourselves included. The seventh step talks about becoming improved, but only through our willingness to submit to a higher power who will participate in the process. Perfection cannot be an ideal to strive for because we are humans. We are not created perfectly and have no hope or possibility of ever being perfect. Remember, in step five, we admit to the exact nature of our wrongs. That exact nature is our human nature. The best I can hope for is to be the best person I can be today in my thoughts and my behavior. I learn through the program to remain aware of how I am thinking, feeling, and acting, that I have a higher power to help me be the best that I can be, and by so doing, I can be useful to others and serene in my spirit.

This is not hard work. It is hard work when I am trying to change myself. When I let go with humility, willing to be the best person I can be today, my spiritual self emerges, not in charge, but present to do the next right thing. Speaking for myself, during the 17 or so hours of each day that I am awake, this does happen some of the time, on most days. It’s not great, but I hope and actually believe it is good enough for that day. I am grateful to not be alone on this journey.