At this point change stops being theoretical and becomes concrete. It is no longer enough to see the truth about myself, admit it, or even feel sorry for it; at some point I have to face the people I harmed and become willing to make things right.
This is difficult, because I can treat amends either as a punishment or avoid them altogether. But both ways miss something important: making amends is not meant to be a grim extra burden, but a real part of healing, a way of taking responsibility and letting inner change become visible in actual life.
Sometimes I will not be able to repair the damage directly, and sometimes returning to a person I harmed may not be possible or wise. Even then, I am not released from the task, because the point is not to ease my guilt cheaply, but to let this change take root in me so that I stop hiding from the harm I caused and begin to live differently.
In that sense, Step Eight asks for courage. It asks me to stop settling for reflection without action and to trust that God can use even this painful work to restore honesty, dignity, and a deeper kind of freedom.
#lent #12steps #step8
I was made for love, and recovery means becoming more fully the person I was meant to be. I do not discover this path by analysing it from a distance. I begin to understand only when I risk living in its spirit, and then I find myself doing things I would not have expected of myself, things that bring life, lift other people up, and carry hope.
That is why humility matters so much here. If I want real change, I have to accept that relationship comes first: trust in Higher Power, openness to guidance, and the willingness to risk following where that guidance leads. Without that risk there is no deep relationship, and without relationship there is no real transformation and healing.
#lent #12steps #step7
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