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August 19 – Looking at My Part · The Daily Ripples Podcast

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Welcome back to the
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Daily Ripples Podcast. It's August 19th.
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Our daily devotional today is called Looking at My Part.
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I'm Pastor Mike, and I'm going to flip this over to Corey, who's going to
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read it for us and kick off our discussion today. Hey guys, that was Pastor
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Mike. You know, thank you. I was kind of falling behind with where we were
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at, Mike. Uh, I didn't need to know all that, but you know, it's fun
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though. The Stone. Freedom grows when I stop focusing on what others
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did and honestly examine my own part.
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Ripple 1, practical. Today I will resist the urge to justify
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myself by pointing to someone else's mistakes. I like doing that.
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Instead, I will ask where I've been selfish, dishonest, fearful,
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and self-seeking. Growth begins when I take
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responsibility for what is mine. Ripple 2, spiritual.
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As I examine my own heart before judging others, the Holy Spirit gives me clarity
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to see myself truthfully,
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helping me find a solid foundation for wise decisions and faithful
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living. The Father calls me to honesty
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rather than blame, and Jesus teaches me to look inward first.
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That's interesting. We've talked about this, where we find
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the great reality deep down within, right? Um,
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I was reading through, but I was waiting. I was hoping you kicked us off
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talking about the cornerstones and the, and the keystones and going through that again,
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because we talk about in there about, uh, you know,
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taking responsibility. What was I, was I thinking of something? Oh, helping me
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find a solid foundation. That made me think of your, the way you walk through
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the stones, right? So the, but the foundation comes first, and that's it.
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That's interesting. And, you know, nobody likes to My sponsor argues with me
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a lot about this, so we can talk about it because he might listen to
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it, he might not. He can't really argue back if he's not here. That's all
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right. Maybe he will email us at wave@dailyripples.com. I've been waiting on
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somebody. But it says on the
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first page, on page 21 of the 12 in 12,
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so it says, we perceive that only through utter defeat are
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we able to take our first steps towards liberation and
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strength. Our admission of our personal powerlessness
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finally turns out to be the firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful
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lives can be built. So you got the firm bedrock, right?
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Yeah. And that firm bedrock is our admission of powerlessness. Right.
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So back on page 12 of the big book, and I think this is really
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cool, and just follow that into, especially when you start doing your Beautiful 9
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thing. So on page 12,
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it says, it was only a matter of being
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willing to believe in a power greater than myself. Neither more was required
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of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start
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from that point upon a foundation of complete willingness.
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So you got bedrock and willingness, right? Yeah. So I
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think that's cool because I'm in construction and a lot of alcoholics
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are because they couldn't go to college.
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So on page 47 of the Big Book, it says,
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it has been repeatedly proven among us that upon
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this simple cornerstone, a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.
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And what's the cornerstone? It's the question right now. And you can,
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I mean, I come into this position right now all the time because it's in
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We Agnostics and it's not talking about y'all agnostics or
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I'm agnostic. It's we, because I can be agnostically inclined about a lot of stuff,
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about my finances, about this, about that,
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and I'm not going to be fully not agnostic.
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So the question is, do I now believe, or am I even
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willing to believe that there's a power greater than myself?
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As soon as a man can say that he does
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believe or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he
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is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among
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us that upon this simple cornerstone. So you got bedrock,
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foundation, cornerstone, and on page 62,
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So he is the father, we are his children. He is the director,
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he is the principal, we are his agents. He is the father, we are his
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children. Most good ideas are simple, Michael. And what's
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like, and I think about this a lot because I come into conflict with simplicity
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in my life. You know, I think about 3 pool
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sticks in the middle of the floor. With plates spinning on top
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of them, right? And those are humans, right? Because they
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can crash down at any second. Okay. Right. So if
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I go down the plate in the pool stick aisle, right, and if this person
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acts right, this person acts right, this person acts right, I'll get to the finish
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line, right? But if I got me and God
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and I go down this road, that's the simple route instead of having to
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make sure the lights, the pallets spinning, right? And all these
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different people act right. Well, what if Corey just does right, and trust God through
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the process and does it this way instead of trusting on all these people,
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because people fail me eventually. Oh yeah, God never does,
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right? So it says most God ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone
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of the new and triumphant ark through which we passed to freedom. So if you've
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ever been to the St. Louis Ark and you took out the center of it
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at the top, that's what a keystone would be. And also in my book,
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I have my sobriety date beside that cornerstone because the cornerstone is a very,
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very important piece of a building. So you got bedrock,
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foundation, cornerstone, and now keystone.
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And this is the new and triumphant arch through which we pass to freedom.
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So there's like a check thing at this though on page 75.
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And I know I'm going through this and this is— but this is important stuff.
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So on page 75, and this is after you've done a fist up, if you
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ever do a fist up, it says, Shade Throne.
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But man, maybe I'll piss somebody off into their fist. That's enough to do it.
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Yeah, or they'll leave a hate letter. His fault.
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We got an email for that too. Um,
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so it says, taking down this book
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from our shelf, we turned to the page which contains the 12 steps,
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carefully reading the first 5 proposals. What's the first
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5 proposals? The first 5 steps. Pretty simple. We ask if we have
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omitted anything. And so I think of, have I omitted anything? Is my first
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step decision 100%? Do I believe that this program
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can work for me and can God help me? And am I insane?
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3, made a decision. Have I made that decision to turn my life
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and my thoughts over the care of God as I understood him?
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And that's just a decision. But if I do
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that, have I made the commitment and done everything else in between from 4
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to 5? So, and then it goes on, for we are building
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an ark through which we walk a free man at last. A free man
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is important, right? Yes. Is our work solid so far? Are the stones
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promptly in place? And we just talked about the stones.
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Have we skimped on the cement which put in the foundation?
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And you know, if you're ever following along and listening to this thing, you can
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put some page numbers down because it's really interesting. Because on
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page 17, It says, the feeling of having shared in
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common peril is the one element in the powerful cement which
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binds us. And here's the warning to you
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meeting makers, but that in itself would never have held us together, for we
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are now joined. The tremendous fact for every one of us
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that we have discovered a common solution. So common problem, common solution,
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that's the powerful cement which binds us. And then
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it said, have we tried to make mortar without sand? And that goes on to
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say, hey, man, Is everything solid? And that's all important because,
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man, and I like the way things connect.
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And if you start looking at the way Bill Wilson,
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he starts talking about building through the third step prayer,
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and all of this is, what are we building? Well, I'm building my relationship
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with God and humankind. And what I'm trying to— I think what
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we're trying to destroy through the process is my ego. Because when
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I'm, you know, we were talking about this a little bit and I know I've
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just ranted for a second, but it's okay. I got a little excited since
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you're like, yeah, let's talk. I kind of handed it to you asking about the
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stones. Yeah. So, but like, and it says freedom.
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So like, we're on this triumphant arc for freedom and
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freedom from what? It's not like, man, I'll tell you, because in the 12
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and 12, after the 5th step, Like I
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said, man, so the 5th step is vital because
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at the beginning of the 5th, at the promise, it says that we begin to
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have a spiritual experience, right? Sometimes the thought
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of drink has gone away. And then on page 64,
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the 12th and 12th, and that's in step 6.
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And this is just step 6, we're not even to 12 yet. It says,
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having been granted a perfect release from alcoholism.
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Man. So let me get there. You got some freedom, right? So,
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you know, and so I don't think we're talking about drinking anymore. We're talking about
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freedom from Corey and freedom from myself. Yeah. And so,
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because I'm in the way and I think, you know, some days
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a lot of people I know that are really in
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this program get lost in the fact
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of it's all about just freedom from theirself. And they forget
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that they came in here hopeless from drinking.
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Right. And the primary thing is I came in here from insanity,
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from the mind and body, right? Because I couldn't quit
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drinking. And when I did, I kept— started drinking again. And then we'll
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start making this program into a, I'm working on my personal defects.
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No. Yeah. And that's what I was just about to say is that, you know,
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because we started this whole thing talking about looking at my part, you know,
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going through and having that solid bedrock, having that
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foundation, you know, keeping the cornerstone in place and,
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and getting to the point where that keystone can complete the arch
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that we walk through to freedom. All those things are my part.
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What is not my part is what everybody
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has done to me in the past. And what I mean by that is
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for me to relitigate everybody in my past, that's not what
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I'm here for. I'm also not here for just,
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and it's the trend that you were hitting on there at the end, I'm not
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just here, you know, once I've done all those things and worked through
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those steps, I'm no longer just here for myself. You know, I came
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here for myself because I needed the help, right? But then once I have been
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transformed by the renewing of my mind, to use a biblical
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way of saying that, once, you know, God has renewed my mind
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as I work these steps, then my role
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is not just to show up to a meeting every day so that I
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can stay sober. That's a very selfish way of looking at it. And that's the
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consumerism that has gotten into AA the same way it's
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gotten into the churches. That's why you don't see people inviting friends
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and associates even to churches as much anymore, because they're just there for them.
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They're not thinking about who else might need this. They're not
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carrying the message, you might say.
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And so I think that that's why it all does play in
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together. Yeah, I may start out from a place of, I'm here so that I
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can get well and I can be healed. But once I've worked the steps,
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then my role flips. And for me to stay well and to stay healed,
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it means I need to be being the hands and feet of Jesus for somebody.
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And that's the way I look at it, for somebody else in recovery by carrying
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that same message to them. If I'm only doing one without the
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other, then I'm staying stuck in my growth and development, and I'm never going to
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grow beyond where I am today. And I just
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think how sad that would be. You know, I mean, it doesn't matter where
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I am today. If that's, if that's the most growth that I'm
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ever going to get in life, then that's just sad
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because there's still more growth to be done. And that's also saying that
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I don't trust God that there's more in store for me.
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Yeah. You know, and I think that's, you know, when I come back
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into this work, right? Yeah. I think that's something, you know, do I believe God
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can take me further than I am right this present second? And if I don't,
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man, then what are we doing here, right? You know, because then go do
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it on your own. You're saying God is nothing. Right. So what I think is
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cool though, you know, at the end of that arc, so the reason there's no
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amen after the 3rd step is because of the 7-step prayer,
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right? And that finishes the arc. It completes the arc, yeah. So it
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says on the 7th step, it says, my Creator, I'm now willing that you should
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have all of me, good and bad. And we kind of hit on that,
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you know, my greatest asset became my greatest defect.
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I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character
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which stands in the way of my usefulness. Not that
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stands in the way for Corey looking cooler or sounding
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cooler or being cooler or more charismatic or whatever.
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For his usefulness to you and my fellows.
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Grant me strength as I go out here to do your bidding, Amen.
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And so the most important thing to me is this, is the end of that
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prayer, to do your bidding. What's the bidding?
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It's cleaning house and helping others. That's it. And if you look
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at it in a structural way, after 7, there's 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
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There's no other argument there. And if you want to read it, I mean,
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you know, so cleaning house and working with others. It's a very simple
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thing, but it's so hard for people. I mean, simple doesn't
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mean easy. To be simple, it'll be quite difficult. Yeah. You ever get in
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these clichés of what you've heard
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in rooms? You'll be like, it's so hard for me to do that,
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man, and say these things that are really self-deprecating
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because I'm really not doing that. Right? I'll tell you
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this. Well, I had a time when I, at one point
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in recovery where, man, the clichés were getting to me. I hated all of them.
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Right? But I stuck around long enough to see every single one of them come
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true. So, well, it's— I think some of them are false because—
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and just as a— think about this. So it's just your stinking thinking. No,
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it's not. No, it's not. It's your favorite one. No,
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it's a thing that people say in the rooms. They say, well, keep loving
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you until you can love yourself. Yeah,
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that's wild because you've been— I mean, I'm talking about you.
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I have been loving me Because it's been all about me
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for a long time. So I think
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that the proper way to say that would be, we'll love you until you can
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love somebody else. Because that's the whole
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deal, right? Because it's not about me loving me. And I can love
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me being depressed. I can love me because I'm still about me.
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Well, you may be serving yourself,
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right? But that's not the same as loving yourself because you could be
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serving yourself by following every whim or desire that comes your way. But that's
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not healthy for you. And that's actually enabling you to continue to
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chase after false dreams. That's not actually self-love.
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Self-love is a completely different concept. Man, I thought I was going to get over
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you. You were not going to get over me after that one, buddy, because we've
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had this argument before and you can't truly love someone else until you fully
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love yourself and see yourself the way God sees you.
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And that is the root of all things. I thought I was going to be—
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since I got you all hyped up, I thought I was be able to sneak
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one over on you. And on that note, our prayer for today: Father God,
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help me focus on my own growth today. Through your
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Holy Spirit, reveal where I need honesty, humility, and change.
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Shape my life through the example of Jesus and guide me
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in doing the next right thing. Amen.
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Amen.