Carried Away on the Rio Grande

A wonderful experience happened to me in a place called the Taos Junction Bridge in New Mexico. I spent a lot of time there last summer while I was also a student studying the history of New Mexico. I had been working with a new sponsor since arriving that winter and again was looking at my character defects when I discovered a tradition, practiced in different forms, by people not only from the native cultures, but from my own Judaic background. Once a year, people of the region come to the river to speak aloud their sins (character defects) and cast them into the Rio Grande. Using bread to represent my character defects, I stood in the center of the bridge facing south as the powerful waters of the Rio Grande flowed thirty feet below. Out loud I spoke about the ways I behaved when frightened, about my dishonesty, my selfishness, and my inconsideration of others. Asking God to take these character defects from me, I cast the bread upon the water and watched it being taken away by the current. It was then that I began to "know" in my heart that the Seventh Step could be spoken by me alone, but that once I had offered my shortcomings to God as I understood him, like the current carrying away the bread, what he chose to do with them was no longer my concern. Nor was it in my power to know how, when, or even if these things would be removed. I had to trust him, and then go on with the rest of the Steps.