Root and Branch

"I humbly offered myself to God, as I then I understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch."  Big Book, p13

Have you ever noticed what happens when you pull dandelions up but don't get them by the whole root?  They multiply!  The same goes with my character defects, my negative thoughts and my bad behavior.  My Higher Power, my new-found Friend is that only remedy I have found to turn my seeds into something "happy, joyous and free".  In Step 3, we "turn our will and our lives over to the care of God" and in Step 7 it says, "we humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings".  It doesn't say that human power removes these character defects.  My job in this whole thing is to face squarely the facts about me and become willing to allow God to remove anything that stands in the way of my usefulness to Him.  I can try to remove the defects, but that is just like using a weed whacker on dandelions.  It might look good on the surface for a while, but when it comes back, it is just like the alcoholic progression, it grows back even fiercer, thicker and more unmanageable than before. 

Thank You Higher Power.  Thank you for uprooting those things that I have surrendered to You.  Thank You for showing me what I am still hanging onto.  Thank You for being ever available to me in my time of need.  Thank You.