(The following is a personal post by one of our members.)
I was talking with my sponsor recently, and he shared that the program was distilled by a speaker he heard down to two words: "Let go." If I only had two words, those two might be the way I would put it as well.
When I heard that, my mind immediately jumped to a section in the Sexaholics Anonymous book (p. 82) that includes those two words:
In summary, for us surrender is the change in attitude of the inner person that makes life possible. It is the great beginning, the insignia and watchword of our program. And no amount of knowledge about surrender can make it a fact until we simply give up, let go, and let God. When we surrender our "freedom," we become truly free."
So maybe even one word can sum up the program: "Surrender."
And yet it seems to be in my very nature to fight instead of surrender. I certainly fought lust. I really wanted to stop. I really tried to stop. But I couldn't. I was no longer free not to lust. I was lust's slave, and I needed to be emancipated by a Power greater than me because I was incapable of breaking the chains that bound me.
I fought God as well.
The difference between lust and God in this battle of mine is that lust is a master that will not let me go, but on the contrary, God is a master only so long as I continue to surrender to Him. And when I surrender my "freedom" to Him, I become truly free. He does not take my freedom away, but He accepts the good and the bad that I freely give Him, and He returns to me the gift of freedom from the bondage I can not escape in my own power.
U.S. Grant is quoted as saying, "No terms, except unconditional and immediate surrender, can be accepted." I started working the Steps of this program with my sponsor by first committing to God, "I will do whatever my sponsor says." Early on in working the Steps with my sponsor, he asked me to write the date and the words "I will go to any length to stay sober" in the front of my AA book, when I was ready. Surrender. I was learning how to finally surrender.
