doorknob.

It’s an extreme example, the doorknob. I’ve heard compatriots say that their higher power could be anything; as long as it wasn’t them.

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Like snowflakes, everyone’s got a unique outlook on religion. It can be cause for a great amount of needless animosity, and dead-end, black and white thinking. And so I apply my all or nothing thinking to the existence of a higher being in the heavens, directing my every move. A side must be chosen and once again I’ve become beautifully unbendable; basking in the glory of self-righteousness.

Thank goodness that’s not what The Twelve Steps are talking about. Well, actually it is, the word “God” gets pushed pretty heavy now and again. But since the only requirement for the program is the desire to stop drinking, even doorknob polishers are allowed under the tent.

Of course, it’s one thing to admit I’m licked. It’s quite another to place my faith in a power greater than myself, because that literally means turning over my power. Giving away my perceived control. Do I need a higher being of my understanding and making to turn things over to?

Yes. Maybe I could spray paint a doorknob gold and place it on a pedestal, but that doesn’t do it for me. And this program is all about what works for me.

My God? 1-part Superman, 1-part Andy Griffith.
Now that’s a Higher Power I can get behind.