Just Breathe: Hope And Help For Those Drowning In The Pain Of AddictionSample

Evaluate my Life with Fearless Honesty Part 1

What’s the best gift you ever received as a kid for Christmas? A Play Station? An X-box? A Cabbage Patch Kid? A bike? A puppy? I remember one Christmas receiving a game called “Operation.” Remember that game? You get to play surgeon on this cartoon guy that is laid out on the board. You have to carefully remove various “organs” without touching the sensitive sides surrounding them. If you accidentally make a mistake, it makes a horrible buzzing noise that shocks you, his red nose lights up, and it’s “game over.” 

I’m learning through my recovery that one of the most valuable practices is to do little probing, a little dissecting, a little “self-exploratory” surgery. And when I say “self” exploratory, I’m not saying that this is a “self-help” type of step. We’ve already concluded that we are inadequate in our own strength. This step does take a deep journey into yourself, but you don’t do it alone. It involves your honesty, God’s diagnostic ability, and a trusted friend.

There are different ways that various recovery programs talk about this, but I’m learning that somewhere in the early stages of breaking free, you have to examine yourself with fearless honesty. In my twelve-step program we call it taking a “fearless moral inventory.” This is a huge inside out step. This has to do with coming clean, getting honest about the past, getting honest with the struggle, getting honest with God, taking off the mask, and telling ourselves and someone else the truth. 

Every retailer and every business knows the importance of inventory. You have to ask, “What’s in the store? What’s in the warehouse? How much is in the bank? How’s our stock doing? How’s employee morale? What’s really true about our situation right now?” Businesses that don’t do that? Well, they don’t usually last very long. 

And people who won’t do this step? Well, their recovery doesn’t usually last very long either. This is a journey to the center of the truth, and this is the step that God wants every single one of us to take.