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September 29 – More Alike Than Different · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:06
  Good morning.
• 0:06
  September 29, more alike than different.
• 0:11
  The stone.
• 0:12
  Humility grows when I recognize that the struggles I see in others also live within me.
• 0:19
  Ripple one, practical.
• 0:20
  Today, I will resist the urge to judge someone else's failures.
• 0:25
  Instead, I will remember how easily I could make the same mistakes under different circumstances.
• 0:30
  Compassion grows when I see others honestly, instead of superiority.
• 0:35
  Ripple 2 spiritual.
• 0:37
  As I follow Christ's example of extending grace before judgment, the Holy Spirit reminds me we all stand in need of God's mercy.
• 0:44
  The Father sees each of us with compassion, and as I learn to see people through his eyes, My heart becomes more humble and more loving.
• 0:54
  Good morning everyone.
• 0:56
  Hopefully this one's a little bit lighter than the last one.
• 0:59
  Um, So humility is uh, the word of the day here, and there's so many different ways to unpack this.
• 1:07
  Um, you know, for me, humility means knowing here and what I really am with a sincere desire to become what I could be.
• 1:13
  Uh, and then I get that definition.
• 1:16
  Again, I'm a definition guy, so that definition comes out of the 5th step.
• 1:19
  And, uh, in the 12 and 12 and, and I, I, I like to, uh, to follow that.
• 1:25
  But, you know, really, though, I think from what the, what the ripples are talking about here is that, uh, in the stone causing the ripples, the struggles, I see the others is that I lack individuality, and the word anonymous or anonymity means lacking individuality.
• 1:43
  And the way I approach that is with when I lack individuality.
• 1:48
  I have common ground with another person.
• 1:51
  And that is so important, um, to that's a foundational principle behind uh, all recovery programs is common ground.
• 2:03
  And, you know, to what, to what Pastor Mike wrote here, you know, is that I could be in any one of these situations at any given moment similar to the person that I am unwilling to extend compassion to, um, But I can be there, any, any second.
• 2:22
  And uh, but, but from a humility standpoint and from being uh, lacking individuality, you know, that starts really early, uh, in, in our fellowship.
• 2:35
  In fact, uh, you know, in very early times, uh, the story, or at least the way I read it, and Dr. Bob and the good old timers was, you know, Bill was in, uh, uh, Akron, I guess, and was uh, at the uh, Mayflower, and got, you know, managed to get in touch with somebody, and that person put him in touch with Bob, and they, they scheduled a meeting for him and Bob, and Bob told him you have 5 minutes.
• 3:02
  Because Bob didn't believe that this guy had, um, the same the same problem as he did.
• 3:09
  See, because Bob thought he was the only guy out there that had that drinking problem.
• 3:14
  And when he told Billy, he said, you got 5 minutes, I got really, really busy, he got places to go, 3 hours later, you know, um, the 12 steps would become, they weren't brought into play at that point in time, but it was the beginning of that process.
• 3:31
  And it was because they found common ground.
• 3:35
  And that common ground, that humility was that they didn't know, um, really what they, who and what they were at the time, but they knew enough about the problem that they both shared that they could engage in brotherly and harmonious action, right?
• 3:53
  Because it talks about that on page 17 is that, uh, you know, being ship being shipwrecked, right?
• 4:01
  And unlike the feelings of ships, passengers, our joy and escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways, right?
• 4:11
  The feeling we have shared in a common peril.
• 4:13
  So the fact that we have common ground on something.
• 4:16
  And this whole thing works.
• 4:18
  It is the absolute backbone foundation of all of the principles and recovery in every single recovery program that is out there, no matter which one or by what name it is called, the founding principle behind that is anonymity. And not anonymity in that, oh, well, you didn't see me or I didn't see you, anonymity in the fact that you lack individuality.
• 4:43
  that inside the the rooms of that follow the 12 steps as a way of life that you lack individuality.
• 4:54
  And there's nothing, you're just like the next guy, just as they used to say another bozo on the bus.
• 5:00
  And that's the cool thing, though, right, is because we're joined by that.
• 5:06
  Right?
• 5:08
  And because we're joined by that, um, lack of individuality is a tremendous fact, is that we have a common solution, a way a way out on which we can absolutely agree, again, which we can find common ground, and upon which we can take join in brotherly and harmonious action.
• 5:26
  So we can take, we can take action.
• 5:30
  based on the idea and the concept that we lack individuality, that we're equally yoked.
• 5:36
  And if you look at it, um, from that perspective, you know, when we talk about the, uh, the, they don't get talked about enough, but the traditions, the entire uh, program hinges on the traditions, uh, and, and again, doesn't matter which uh, part which fellowship you attend or which fellowship you subscribe to, uh, even, even in, uh, you know, predominantly church-based, uh,
• 6:06
  people that find their spiritual life in a church.
• 6:09
  They are, they have, in that church, they lack individuality because they are all seeking God.
• 6:14
  Now they may be seeking God for different reasons.
• 6:16
  The reasons aren't important.
• 6:18
  It's the fact that they're seeking God.
• 6:20
  And when they find themselves there, right?
• 6:22
  Then they have a primary purpose.
• 6:24
  Now, we would call that the 5th tradition in recovery.
• 6:26
  And then the 5th tradition, it says that our primary purpose is to carry this message, and in the church, it would be the crucified Christ.
• 6:34
  And in rooms of recovery, it would be freedom from whatever that happened, that thing is, that happens to be, have you bound to the earth.
• 6:41
  Um, The cool thing is, uh, In, uh, Romans, Paul talks, Paul talks about it.
• 6:54
  And he calls it his thorn. And it says to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.
• 7:07
  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it from me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
• 7:15
  Therefore, I will boast all more gladly about my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me.
• 7:22
  That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, and insults, and hardships, and persecutions, and difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
• 7:31
  And the way Paul approaches that also reminds me of kind of the 7th step prayer and the 3rd step prayer, right?
• 7:38
  A lot of people say these prayers and they think some that, oh, well, if I say these prayers are good, great prayers, no problem with the prayers.
• 7:45
  But what we're asking for is we're asking for difficulties.
• 7:47
  We're saying that in our difficulties that you will show others, how have, how you have helped me overcome these difficulties.
• 7:57
  And in the Senate step prayer, it says, as they stand in my way of being useful to others.
• 8:02
  So like Paul's talking about with his thorn is that if he pleaded to the Lord 3 times and the Lord would have removed his thorn, well, he would not have been able to boast all the more gladly about his weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on him.
• 8:16
  He wouldn't have been able to do that.
• 8:17
  He wouldn't have been able to help people through Christ's power because they wouldn't have seen that in them.
• 8:23
  They wouldn't have seen it in them.
• 8:24
  And that's the way that our, that 12 step fellowships work, at least in my, from my perspective, is that, um,
• 8:32
  that we see others with the same problem, right?
• 8:38
  I mean, it literally says that, um, over and over in, in, in all different forms of the literature, but it says that until such a time, you know, little can be accomplished until, until this is reached, right?
• 8:54
  until common ground is found.
• 8:56
  Can't really do a whole lot with it.
• 8:59
  So it's important to find that common ground with people, um, because that way you can be that person, that other people will be drawn to, because you will be somebody in the problem with in which the problem had been solved.
• 9:14
  And had you have wished any of those things away, you know, we've been talking about this over the last few days, your usefulness, your gratitude, those things like that, had you wished any one of those things away?
• 9:25
  It would have removed the ability for you to be useful and grateful for your experience on this planet, and your experience that you're getting to have right now, um, with anyone that you may come in contact with today to help, because they would see you possibly as somebody that's had a similar problem as they have, it's just so vital, it's so vital to our, um, to our, our way of life, our concept, where the 12 steps, 12 traditions are concerned, because if you have common ground, then you absolutely have a need
• 9:56
  for unity.
• 9:57
  And if you have unity, then the people that are involved in this process both have the ability to express themselves so without fear of repercussion because it is vital to hold that unity, to keep that common ground.
• 10:12
  And then you can practice that 2nd tradition.
• 10:14
  And if you need to make some changes or you need to do some things, you can have those discussions and work them out with somebody.
• 10:20
  And then if you have somebody else that wants to join, well, as long as they have are on the common ground, you could bring them into that group, into that unity, and you guys can live, and you can make these things work because you're shipwrecked in a similar vessel.
• 10:34
  And I like, for me, is, is personally, and I, I never really know, right?
• 10:44
  And there's another one too, that I really like this where Paul talks about it, right?
• 10:49
  Because I always want God to tell me, I want to tell God the way things are going to be.
• 10:53
  And Paul in Romans 9, 19.
• 10:57
  One of you say to me, then why does God still blame us?
• 11:00
  For who resists his will?
• 11:02
  But who are you, 0 man, to talk back to God?
• 11:05
  Shall, what is formed, say to the one who formed it?
• 11:10
  Why did you make me like this?
• 11:12
  Does the potter have the right to make?
• 11:15
  out of the same lump of clay, some pottery for double purposes and some for common uses?
• 11:22
  And I think that's that's Paul's way of saying it's like, hey, man, you don't really know. And you don't get to choose.
• 11:28
  And I believe that my creator created me perfectly.
• 11:31
  Now, that doesn't, that doesn't abdicate my responsibility to amends into cleaning up my wreckage, but I believe that my creator put me here in order to serve this very moment.
• 11:43
  This very, the very last word that I speak, the very last breath that I draw, that I believe that he put me here for a reason, and I believe in a lot of cases, that reason is to help somebody else that was equally yoked, just like me.
• 11:58
  And that we lacked individuality. And on that basis, we can certainly engage in brotherly and harmonious action.
• 12:06
  That is the great news that these books carry for those who suffer.
• 12:12
  I hope you guys have a wonderful day.
• 12:14
  Father God, keep me humble and compassionate today through your Holy Spirit.
• 12:21
  Help me see others as you see them with grace and mercy, shape me through the example of Jesus.
• 12:26
  Amen.
• 12:27
  Bye for now.