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August 29 – Letting the Work Speak · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:06
  Good morning.
• 0:07
  Today is August 29th, letting the work speak.
• 0:11
  The stone.
• 0:13
  Humility grows when I focus more on living the message than on receiving credit for it.
• 0:19
  Ripple Warren Practical.
• 0:21
  Today I will not, I will let my actions speak louder than my words.
• 0:24
  I will not need recognition to know I'm making progress.
• 0:30
  Quiet faithfulness often has a greater impact than public attention.
• 0:34
  The ripple too spiritual.
• 0:36
  As I'll let the work speak instead of seeking recognition, the Holy Spirit helps me play spiritual principles above pride, criticism, and the need to be noticed.
• 0:49
  The Father calls me to humility rather than self promotion.
• 0:55
  And Jesus served others without seeking recognition for himself.
• 1:01
  I think that's like, you know, I mean, the spirit of the 12 steps.
• 1:05
  I mean, it's the spirit of the 12 traditions as well.
• 1:08
  I think it's the spirit of all this.
• 1:09
  For me, you know, I run into times where I can beat myself up about things and beat myself up about getting recognition.
• 1:23
  And get, well, you know, on both sides and not, you know, like, don't they know what I'm doing kind of thing? And, you know, I, I, I practice this stuff, I try to, at least, to my best ability, and I could do better, um, every day.
• 1:42
  Every day, I wake up and do the same things over and over and over and I, uh,
• 1:47
  But I think there's this, this place that, you know, and I don't think, God uses me in certain ways in my life.
• 1:54
  And about a year and a half ago, probably a little bit longer.
• 2:02
  I um, I started sending out, well, because my sponsor started sending out this morning meditation to me.
• 2:10
  And, uh, but, you know, it was this book.
• 2:14
  It's called Don M.
• 2:15
  It's stumbling in the right direction.
• 2:17
  And with this book, you know, gives some thoughts, and this dude, he was in the program and of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he would write a stall.
• 2:25
  It's about the certain thing and then I would, uh, then my sponsor would send it out.
• 2:29
  he would connect the dots in the book to that.
• 2:32
  And man, I'll tell you, like, I started, uh, I got a book, I got the same book and I started doing it too.
• 2:39
  And then I would send it to him and send it to a couple other guys and he messaged me back and he said, well, you know, You know, what you're writing down is just, you know, your thoughts and that's cool.
• 2:54
  Um, but the reason I write just page numbers down, and a little bit of thought is I try to stick to the text because this is the basic text of our society. And, um, my sponsor is somewhat of a, uh, big book enthusiast or, Big book mechanic or thumper or whatever you want to call it, and that's cool.
• 3:15
  Because, you know, there's principles within this stuff, and I think that's important to know that since we have principles, like, and you stick to them, and you stick to the principles, you can't really deviate.
• 3:27
  I mean, there is deviation, but you're not going to deviate too far.
• 3:30
  Oh. So I started sending it.
• 3:35
  I started looking at the book, looking at the book and connecting the dots that way.
• 3:39
  And what that has given me is a greater understanding of the literature.
• 3:45
  Well, you know, I think, you know, just understanding the literature is one degree and doing it is a completely different thing as well.
• 3:51
  And, you know, today my job is to do it and understand it.
• 3:55
  You know, on page 84.
• 3:57
  The big book, it says, our next function is to grow in understanding and affectiveness.
• 4:02
  This shall last a lifetime.
• 4:04
  But where I'm saying, like God used it for me is, um, You know, I started sending it out to like 30, 40, 50 dudes.
• 4:14
  And I got in such a habit to the, with this.
• 4:19
  Like I didn't want to miss, right?
• 4:22
  Because like my ego, like how, and this is where God uses me, right?
• 4:26
  Because, like, it kept me pushing enough because, like, I would send it out, maybe I forget a day.
• 4:32
  Well, people would send me back questions like, you know, what happened?
• 4:34
  You know, and so I got into a place where, you know, my ego, right?
• 4:40
  pushed me into a position where I did this every single day.
• 4:45
  I did not miss.
• 4:47
  And when I quit, you know, doing it here and there and doing it every day and saying accountable to these people as well, I got consistent.
• 4:57
  And I think getting consistent.
• 4:59
  It doesn't matter how you get there, you just get there.
• 5:02
  Um.
• 5:03
  So I remember, you know, morning specifically, it was about 6 or 5.30 in the morning.
• 5:08
  I said, my monitor text message and I said, I understand now.
• 5:12
  Because I understood this thing I do every morning of getting on my knees and reading this reading and doing a little writing and all this stuff so much better.
• 5:22
  Because what it was, is I'm not doing this for you.
• 5:27
  I'm not doing this for me.
• 5:30
  I'm doing this to grow a better bigger conscious contact with God.
• 5:34
  That's the reason I do this.
• 5:36
  And so I continue doing this.
• 5:38
  And so like, you know, I can see where like, you know, in the beginning of the, well, I mean, I read this out all the time, you know, I, I really, you know, there's something in page 130 in the 12 and 12.
• 5:52
  Because it says, like, you know, right here it says he, at 1st he goes along because he must.
• 5:58
  And I don't know why the must is.
• 6:00
  Like, it is the must because of this or this. Like, then we come into that predicament, like when we come into this program or when I came into AA, right?
• 6:09
  And I've here for years, you know, why are you doing this?
• 6:13
  You gotta be doing it for yourself.
• 6:15
  Well, you know, I guess, you know, for doing it for the wife, that's for myself as well.
• 6:21
  So I keep the wife, doing it for my job.
• 6:24
  That for myself as well, because if I keep the job, then, you know, whatever.
• 6:27
  You know, doing it just so I can live.
• 6:30
  You know, well, what if that me living is just enough for me to take care of my kids?
• 6:35
  What if that's just the only thing that's keeping me alive?
• 6:38
  Um, I don't think the wise, this matters, is the why matters as much as just doing it, right?
• 6:46
  Because it says at 1st he goes along because he must.
• 6:49
  But later he discovers a way of life he really wants to live.
• 6:53
  I think everybody in their life in different moments in time, and this is Jim, my opinion here, but like, comes into these reasons of why they do something.
• 7:03
  But if they keep on the consistency, I don't think it matters why they did it at all.
• 7:07
  I think they just kept doing it.
• 7:10
  And so, I don't know why I continue to do this, but I do know what happens after I do it.
• 7:19
  I grow that conscious contact with God.
• 7:21
  I know my, uh, Grand sponsor, you know, he was talking about this when he was speaking one day, he was like, you know, everything that you do, like meetings, um, calling somebody, reading the book with them.
• 7:37
  It's all seeking God and um, to that extent, to that point, right?
• 7:42
  So on that.
• 7:45
  It's all speaking God.
• 7:47
  So on page 47 of the big book or 46, I mean.
• 7:53
  It says at the bottom of the page, we found that God does not make 2 harder terms with those who seek it.
• 8:00
  Man, like, you know, I don't know, man.
• 8:04
  Like, you know, in the beginning of the whole this, like, I held on to that.
• 8:08
  I still hold on to that.
• 8:09
  Because what is seeking?
• 8:11
  Yeah, seeking is doing those things, like calling somebody, reading the book with someone, going to a meeting, helping someone, being there for my family.
• 8:21
  If I understand what the word seek is for God, I would imagine God is this, this thing I can't describe, but I imagine there's a, a similarity to it and it's all love.
• 8:34
  God would want me to be loving to all.
• 8:37
  And, you know, there's scripture that's kind of like, you know, pointed to that, you know, love thy neighbor as thyself.
• 8:43
  I think that's what it says.
• 8:45
  And thy neighbors, everybody.
• 8:46
  It's not just who I wanted to live beside me.
• 8:48
  Oh, but doing this stuff is so critical.
• 8:53
  And I don't think if it matters if I, like, you know, so I might be going against the grin a little bit, but because it says, you know, my, because, you know, but doing this stuff, my, my actions do speak louder than my words.
• 9:06
  I am consistent.
• 9:08
  That's a big change for someone like me.
• 9:11
  You know, and I didn't do all this.
• 9:14
  You know, guys put me in a position where I'm able to do all this.
• 9:17
  Um, and what a cool deal because like, you know, me showing my consistency has helped others.
• 9:24
  My sponsors showing his consistency, has helped others.
• 9:28
  It especially has helped me.
• 9:29
  And so, like, doing these things over and over and over and over again, can help other people as well.
• 9:39
  And so like when I come into that and I look like, well, man, what am I doing it for?
• 9:44
  Well, I'm not doing it for recognition.
• 9:46
  But maybe I started doing it to make sure I was accountable to somebody.
• 9:51
  So, you know, you take that in another perspective and, you know, someone like posts a picture on their social media of like, I'm losing weight or, you know, even to this, you know, to this side of it, like, you know, their sobriety date.
• 10:05
  Because they do that, you know, to some extent to stay accountable, but, you know, maybe it works, maybe it does it.
• 10:11
  But, you know, that's the best that they could do at that time.
• 10:15
  And that's all we're working with here, right?
• 10:18
  And I don't think we, so like, it says humility grows when I focus more on living the message than receiving credit for it.
• 10:26
  Well, man,
• 10:28
  I don't have to, like,
• 10:30
  I come into this place of, you know, because I do get to, there's joy.
• 10:37
  There's so much, like on page 89.
• 10:41
  You know, this is a big promise.
• 10:44
  It says life will take on new meaning, to watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness manage, to show, to see a fellowship grow about you, to have a host of friends.
• 10:55
  This is an experience you must not miss.
• 10:58
  We know you will not want to miss it.
• 11:01
  Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the Bryce spot of our lives.
• 11:05
  You know, this is the bright spot of our life today.
• 11:08
  This is the bright spot.
• 11:11
  I mean, doing this, man.
• 11:12
  like knowing that like, you know, I'm trying to carry the message in other ways as well.
• 11:15
  trying to carry this literature and, you know, trying to, my experience, you know, through it, you know, knowing that helps other people to some extent, like, that's so cool.
• 11:26
  Man, like when I when I'm reading the book with somebody and man, they called me that, man, I get it now.
• 11:33
  Man, it's the coolest thing in the world because man, you know, I've never, in my past, you know, being out there, nobody's ever called me in there, man, you know, I just get it now.
• 11:47
  you know, it's so cool.
• 11:48
  Like, you know, thank you for showing me what was freely given to you. And they was showing me.
• 11:53
  Like, nobody ever really did that.
• 11:54
  You know, it was, it was all transactional.
• 11:58
  It was all what I can do, what I could get out of them and what they could get out of me.
• 12:03
  you know, that's okay.
• 12:04
  Like it was that transactional because that's what the best I could do.
• 12:07
  But really wasn't the best I could do.
• 12:10
  Um, on in the 12 and 12, the long form of the 12th tradition.
• 12:16
  The reason I said, like, you know, it's funny that they, like, they should call it the real form and the cut down form, whatever, because, like, it takes a lot of emphasis out of this, and because the long form is the 1st form, and they just cut them down just a little bit to fit on the wall and not be as long to say in the in the beginning of the meetings, but the long form of tradition 12 states.
• 12:41
  And finally, we have alcohols anonymous, and it says in finally, because like after reading the 11 traditions, it was a 2.5 pages long, so they're like, man, it's funny, they put in finally.
• 12:52
  says, and finally, we have alcohol synonymously that the principles in anonymity has an immense spiritual significance.
• 13:00
  It reminds us that we are, we are to place principles before personalities.
• 13:06
  that we are actually to practice a genuine humility.
• 13:09
  This is to end this this to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us, that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of him who presides over us all.
• 13:21
  And um, You know, and I think to, you know, to exclamate, or I don't know if that's the right word, but exclamate that thought.
• 13:32
  Well, page 190, the last sentence of the 12th tradition, it says, in the, in the text, it says, as we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe that each of us takes part in the weaving of a protective mantle, which covers our whole society, under which we may grow and work in unity.
• 13:54
  You know, I saw like, well, the sentence above that too, it's kind of important.
• 13:59
  This is moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as AA members, both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public.
• 14:11
  And so like, There's no big pickles in AA.
• 14:17
  Michael, I bet you like that.
• 14:19
  Uh, right.
• 14:21
  So like there's, you know, from the person that cleans the toilets, to the GSR, to any of those people.
• 14:29
  I remember a friend of mine was like, he was the GS Sergeant.
• 14:34
  I got to be the GSR and he came in.
• 14:37
  You know, he's a, he's cocky, and I'm sure he listens to this, and I think it's funny.
• 14:41
  I'm smiling really big right now thinking about it.
• 14:43
  But he's like, you know, I'm kind of like, he came in and like, you know, the chairperson at the business meeting wasn't there and he goes, well, you know, I'm the GSR, so I'm like pretty much the leader.
• 14:54
  I was like the audacity of this dude.
• 14:57
  And uh, but it's fun, man.
• 14:59
  It's the greatest, like to be a part of that.
• 15:02
  Like, to even, you know, so like, Because there's no big pickles in AA.
• 15:09
  No, like everybody's at, I'm just a drunk.
• 15:13
  You know, God has led me to do a couple of these things, and I think that's great, but you know, at the end of the day, man, I don't know what else to do.
• 15:19
  Because my life, well, it's amazing compared to the way it used to.
• 15:25
  And God keeps on presenting different things in my life to do, like, health this person or do this, or do this book study.
• 15:34
  And, you know, I, I just do it because, man, like, you know, it's, it's amazing to see the lights come on and someone else is honest.
• 15:48
  It's something that you'll never want to miss, to see their families reunite.
• 15:52
  Man, but like, you know, it says, say you don't do it.
• 15:57
  That's okay too.
• 15:58
  You know, it goes into detail about like the people that cannot or will not.
• 16:04
  And I don't, you know, I, man, I come into this problem quite often.
• 16:09
  It kind of sucks because like, For a while now, and I'm kind of like, I guess, I think Proverbs 11 2 says, you know, I think it goes, well, pride comes disgrace, then humility comes wisdom.
• 16:28
  And, you know, so like, I think I'm, we kind of ran around this thing a little bit in a place of, uh,
• 16:37
  I don't know.
• 16:38
  I was trying to like get people to go through this work.
• 16:42
  And forgetting I have no ability to do that.
• 16:45
  I'm just there to read with them and, you know, I come into this thing of argument sometimes with these people and.
• 16:52
  I need to stop that as much because I'm passionate about this.
• 16:57
  And I know what saved my life.
• 17:00
  Not just like, you know, anything else in my life, just saved my life, period.
• 17:06
  Was this work?
• 17:08
  And so like, but so on page 58.
• 17:12
  It says, if in the big book, it says, if you've decided what you want, what we have.
• 17:19
  You know, my sponsor always asks people this.
• 17:23
  He says, you know, do you want what we have and is what and what we, what is it that we have that you want?
• 17:29
  I think that's an important question.
• 17:32
  And it says,
• 17:34
  Are you willing to go to any length to get it?
• 17:38
  And if you are, you're ready to take certain steps, but if you're not, that's okay too.
• 17:42
  Oh.
• 17:44
  I'm not into convincing business as much anymore.
• 17:48
  I still find myself in that way and I'm trying to, you know, back off about a little bit to the best of my ability.
• 17:56
  Uh, It says in the Ripple 2 spiritual, says the father calls me to humility rather than self-commotion.
• 18:05
  You know, and I guess you could, you know, people, man, context is very critical.
• 18:12
  Oh, in this deal and, in the, Tradition 11, our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion.
• 18:23
  We need to always maintain personal anonymity of the level of pressed radio films.
• 18:28
  And that's strange because, like, you know, I've kind of come into a conundrum of this with that.
• 18:34
  But at least in the rooms, I find, but there are people that are doing in the face podcasts and all sorts of stuff.
• 18:41
  Um, and we try to just keep it to us 1st name and try to just move along like that and the best we can do this, but you know, I think it's important to get this message out.
• 18:53
  But the other side of that is like, Attraction versus promotion, you know, but that's in the public, that's in like, you know, the public relations on it, right?
• 19:03
  That's not within our community.
• 19:07
  I think that's important because, like, you know, you'll have events and people be like, attraction then rather than promotion, and it's like, no, no, that's at the level of press, radio, and films.
• 19:20
  And I'm probably not doing too good at that.
• 19:22
  So I probably should shut this down.
• 19:24
  Anyways, but I think it's a great thing, right?
• 19:28
  Staying consistent.
• 19:29
  This thing keeps me consistent as well.
• 19:31
  And he's me in the literature.
• 19:33
  And, um, I do have a thought of this helps other people to like, and I hope it does.
• 19:40
  And really grateful for the opportunities and for the privilege to do this, but prayer, Father God, teach me to walk in humility today, through your Holy Spirit, help me seek faithfulness rather than recognition.
• 19:53
  Shame my life to the example of Jesus.
• 19:57
  Amen.