From Cracks to Closure: Why It’s Slow Then Quick

Spiritual progress is not sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly — it is always slowly then quickly.

My friend moved into a new home.

Part of the house was built on improperly reclaimed land; the poorly packed soil was subsiding. One half of the house was sinking.

The first signs of trouble were the cracks in the drywall. Over the next year, the doors and windows separated from the walls and he could see daylight where it should not be seen. The basement floor bent and then cracked.

My friend described the repairs. They were slow and then quick: The set-up took a long time, but the fix was short.

“They showed up with the colossal concrete pumping trucks, cranes, and digging equipment. They took weeks to set up and then more weeks to dig under the house, installing strange gear that I did not recognize.

“Then, one day, the prep work was done.

“We watched from the street. They started pumping concrete under the foundation. The strange gear I had seen for weeks began to operate. Then, amazingly, as we watched, the house levelled. The floors returned to flat, and the two halves were pressed together. I was astounded. After weeks of work, in one hour, it was fixed.”

That was the story of my Recovery.

The foundations of my life were sinking, and cracks were showing.

I came to AA, for repairs. First was the prep time. The 12 Steps were heavy and strange gear. Inventories, prayer, and meditation took time. But, as with my friend’s house, the prep time ended and the equipment began to do its work.

It was magic. My desire to drink was lifted.

I was restored to sanity with a fix that was slow then quick. A pattern that was then repeated with other defects of character.