The Broken Elevator
A Journey Through the Twelve Steps
I walked into a meeting, and a man said to me, “I can tell you are in a hurry, but the elevator is broken. It runs so slow, you will get there quicker if you take the steps!”
I kept pressing the elevator button.
He had given me a direction. I wanted a different answer. I wanted to arrive without having to climb. I wanted change to carry me somewhere while I stood still.
Looking back, that button feels familiar. How many times had I pressed it in other forms? Another promise. Another explanation. Another attempt to manage what I needed to surrender. I could see that my way was not working, yet I kept asking it to work one more time.
The steps were there. I had to become willing to take them.
What Are You Waiting to Change?
The Broken Elevator explores the Twelve Steps as a road to spiritual growth through honesty, surrender, accountability, and service.
We begin by examining what we have been trying to control, what our choices have cost, and where we need help. We make room for the truth we already know and the truth we are still learning to face.
Sometimes the first movement is admitting that we are standing still.
Taking Responsibility, One Step at a Time
The journey asks something of us. We examine ourselves. We speak honestly with someone we trust. We become willing to release patterns we have defended. We consider the harm we have caused and the amends that may be ours to make.
That work reaches into our relationships. An apology needs changed conduct behind it. Making amends requires care for the people we harmed, including respect for their boundaries. Their response belongs to them; our responsibility belongs to us.
Each step gives us something to practice.
Learning to Keep Walking
Prayer, reflection, fellowship, and service help us carry this work into daily life. We learn to recognize when an old response is returning and seek help before it takes us further.
Through I’m Third Ministries, The Broken Elevator offers space to explore these practices and their relationship to a life of dependence on God.
I still remember that man’s words. More than that, I remember my hand on the button.
Where in your life are you still pressing for an answer while resisting the steps before you?
Let’s Begin a Conversation
Bring your questions, your experience, and your willingness to learn. Connect with us to explore The Broken Elevator and the Twelve Steps as a road to spiritual growth.
How Did The Twelve Steps Come About?
Origins and Connection to AA
Not many people know that Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, played a role in the formation of the AA [3]. He directed a young man called Rowland H from Rhode Island to a religious movement called the Oxford Group. Jung suggested that his condition was medically hopeless and that only a spiritual experience could help him.
Rowland H practiced the principles of the Oxford Group, had a religious experience, and overcame his alcoholism. A famous Wall Street banker called Bill W, whose alcoholism was crippling him, tried the method as a last resort.
The Oxford Group was a 20th-century Christian spiritual movement that served as the direct foundational and philosophical predecessor to Alcoholics Anonymous. [1, 2]Origins and Connection to AA
- Founding: Started by American Christian minister Frank Buchman in the early 20th century. [1, 2]
- Key Influence: AA co-founders Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith adapted the Oxford Group's core principles to help alcoholics achieve sobriety. [1, 2, 3]
- The Six Steps: Early members used a six-part spiritual framework—deflation/surrender, dependence on God, moral inventory, confession, restitution, and helping others—which directly inspired AA's Twelve Steps. [1, 2, 3]
Core Principles
- The Four Absolutes: Absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love.
- Surrender: Giving one's life and will over to God’s guidance.
- Quiet Time: Meditating and listening for divine direction. [1, 2, 3]
Why AA Separated
- The Split: By 1937–1939, Bill W. and other early members parted ways with the Oxford Group. [1, 2]
- Lessons Learned: The Oxford Group became entangled in social, political, and public controversies. This prompted AA to establish strict traditions of remaining non-professional, self-supporting, and neutral on outside issues.
