The Al-Anon Program is based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The steps progress through simply acknowledging our powerlessness over alcohol to connecting to the One who has all power. Along the way the steps call upon us to examine ourselves and make some changes to the path we’ve been following.

One of the Al-Anon readings reiterates a principle of equality among members. It is the simple understanding that there are no ladders in Al-Anon. Everyone is on the same plane – everyone is equal in their standing within the program. It is good news to learn that there are no governing leaders or directors at the meetings. In fact, time in program (how many years a person has been working the steps) and progress with working the steps provides no elevation in rank or status to an individual member. Every member is on equal footing within the fellowship, and every voice matters.

I have often forgotten this principle when I have placed another member on some higher plane in my mind. I think surely if I am on Step 3 and they are on Step 12 they are more important or have more insight than I do. I think if someone has been in the program 10 years they must be more successful at working the program than someone with only a year or two. It is this thinking however that sets me up for a fall.

Perhaps the biggest trouble I can create with this thinking occurs when I am seeking a Higher Power and I look for someone who is up on their ladder closer to God. Of course that is not how a relationship with a Higher Power works at all. It has been my experience that God seeks each of us out right where we are – no ladder required.

You see, Step 11 doesn’t tell us to improve our conscious contact with someone who appears to have a close relationship with a Higher Power. Nor does it tell us what this Higher Power's will is for us. In fact, unlike many religious settings, there is complete freedom for each member to grow their relationship with their Higher Power in their own way and at their own pace.

The other steps of the program also take on many creative forms as various members do the work of recovery. Yes, active recovery demands movement on my part, but for me it is more important to know the direction I am moving in than how fast I am going. I've said it before in my writings: in navigation direction trumps speed every time.

The direction of the 12 steps for me is not upward, it is forward. Upward movement only gets me into trouble. When I head up pretty soon I need a ladder. Then, as some of the old time religious clichés relate, I become so heavenly minded I'm no earthly good. If I'm not paying attention the spiritual awakening brought about by working the steps may be spoiled by my movement away from fellow members of the program. This happens when I mistakenly see my Higher Power up and away from this group of everyday people.

The 12 Steps create a program of action that keep my feet firmly planted on the ground. What's more, they keep my feet and my head in the same time zone. And my forward movement through the steps shows me the face of my Higher Power in the flesh and blood of the folks surrounding me. Truly this is God come down to man, not man wandering upward to God in isolation.

Upon close examination this looks and feels like really good news for a broken person like me.