Each month we focus on the Step, Tradition, and Concept of the month, and provide a quote from Bill W. This is a quick and easy way to learn about these important pillars of the program.
Step 3
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us.
12 Steps and 12 Traditions, p. 40
Tradition 3
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Even in self-protection, we do not wish to erect the slightest barrier between ourselves and the fellow alcoholic who still suffers.
Language of the Heart, p. 79 (letter to The Grapevine, Feb. 1948)
Concept 3
To insure effective leadership, we should endow each element of A.A. – the Conference, the General Service Board and its service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives – with a traditional “Right of Decision.”
We cannot do less than trust our leaders in service. The “Right of Decision” that we offer them is not only the practical means by which they may act and lead effectively, but it is also the symbol of our implicit confidence.
Twelve Concepts for World Service, p. 14
