Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / April 22 – Rooted in New Soil

Transcript

April 22 – Rooted in New Soil · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:03
  Hey, guys, this is the Daily Ripple.
• 0:06
  You can find us on the dailyripples.com as well.
• 0:11
  Me and Pastor Mike are in here again, which is cool because I like talking with him.
• 0:17
  So far.
• 0:17
  So far, yeah.
• 0:18
  We don't argue too much, but when we do, there's literature.
• 0:22
  We call it debate.
• 0:24
  We call it debate.
• 0:26
  Anyways, you want to go ahead and read this?
• 0:28
  Yes, sir.
• 0:28
  Well, this is April 22nd.
• 0:30
  The Daily Ripple is titled Rooted in New Soil, The Stone.
• 0:34
  Change often begins quietly.
• 0:36
  A single moment of clarity can start a deeper transformation.
• 0:40
  Planting new roots where old patterns once grew.
• 0:43
  Ripple 1 is practical.
• 0:45
  Today, I will nurture the insights I've been given instead of ignoring them.
• 0:49
  Small realizations deserve attention.
• 0:52
  I will protect the habits, relationships, and disciplines that help those new roots grow stronger.
• 0:57
  Ripple 2 is spiritual.
• 0:59
  As I follow the life of Christ, the Holy Spirit deepens my roots in the Father's truth.
• 1:04
  What once felt fragile becomes steady.
• 1:06
  Over time, new growth appears.
• 1:08
  Patience, courage, and love.
• 1:10
  Evidence that God is reshaping the ground beneath my life.
• 1:14
  And, of course, as always, we'll save our prayer for today's Daily Ripple to the end.
• 1:19
  But the first thing that I think of, Corey, you know, when I read this is that,
• 1:24
  And what's jumping out to me is that the small realizations deserve attention, right?
• 1:28
  So in other words, somebody can say something to me in a meeting that gets my mind going
• 1:33
  on something that maybe I've either been mulling over or something that I need to mull over.
• 1:36
  And it'll really make me think and pray about it and study about it to try to figure out,
• 1:40
  you know, how to be better about that.
• 1:43
  And one of those things, probably one of the most recent examples of that,
• 1:48
  has been when people in a meeting will talk about, you know, reaching out and helping other folks,
• 1:54
  you know, because especially until about six months ago, you know, I was just working all
• 1:59
  the time, killing myself. And that's part of what we were talking about a little bit earlier
• 2:03
  offline, you and I were. Just because of the time crunch, you know, I was spending all this time
• 2:09
  and I was getting the reward, you might say, from one place. And it was just, you know,
• 2:13
  the financial security, right? Because if you're working two jobs, then obviously you're making
• 2:18
  sure that that is being covered. And now that it's back to, you know, just the calling, just the role
• 2:24
  that is of service, I have to reorient myself in terms of what gives value to my life and what I do.
• 2:32
  And that, it may seem like a small realization when it comes, but it's one of those things that
• 2:38
  slowly builds over time by people in the meetings talking about what they do to be of service to
• 2:43
  others. And it's not because they're getting paid to do it. It's not because they're getting anything
• 2:45
  out of it other than staying sober. And that's an encouragement to me. But that's the first place
• 2:50
  that my mind went. How about you? So chain often begins quietly. Man, like we've talked about,
• 2:56
  I've been watching people in these rooms for quite some time, mostly watching people because,
• 3:00
  you know, I don't want to look watching myself. But, you know, I've heard different things. And,
• 3:06
  you know, I think the, you know, the spirit of anonymity is the foundation. So why, what,
• 3:11
  it kind of points at that
• 3:14
  at the 12 and 12. I don't have one in front of me,
• 3:16
  but that's okay. But
• 3:18
  you know, so when I see people
• 3:20
  that have over the years,
• 3:23
  for instance, they post
• 3:24
  about their sobriety dates.
• 3:27
  And I heard a speaker say...
• 3:28
  Guilty. I've done it.
• 3:30
  And I get it, man, and I think it's great,
• 3:33
  but it begins quietly.
• 3:34
  And also on page 187
• 3:36
  in the 12 and 12, 12
• 3:38
  traditions,
• 3:40
  Alcoholics Anonymous book, it says, we are sure that humility expressed by anonymity is the
• 3:48
  greatest safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have. So when I think about that little thing,
• 3:54
  and I think about the spirit of anonymity, and I heard a speaker talk about this. He said,
• 4:00
  when I saw 90% of the time when people are not practicing anonymity, for some reason,
• 4:08
  to go back out. And I wonder why that is. And probably because there's no special people in
• 4:17
  this room. We're all one. And so I don't look at myself as a pile on the hill, and I don't look at
• 4:25
  myself down in the valley. And so when it becomes quietly, I do things like we've talked about
• 4:30
  before. I do it in quiet, but I also do it in a demonstration because how much I do think it needs
• 4:37
  be done quietly. I do need to make a demonstration
• 4:39
  of what this program really looks like in my
• 4:41
  life. And it's funny, me and
• 4:44
  my significant other,
• 4:45
  we used to have these couples
• 4:47
  over for dinner. Man, it was
• 4:49
  funny because one couple
• 4:51
  they started coming over and
• 4:53
  they went back out and the next
• 4:55
  couple came over and they were coming over for dinner
• 4:57
  and I told them, I said, hey, the last people
• 4:59
  came back out, so we'll see how y'all
• 5:01
  do. Well, those people went back out too, so
• 5:03
  that was kind of weird. At this
• 5:05
  point i'm kind of glad that that whole thing about my wife and i meeting y'all for dinner has not
• 5:10
  quite worked out yes so probably a best benefit to you well you know my sponsor and his wife
• 5:18
  started having this over for sunday dinner every sunday and man like you know he knows this and
• 5:23
  man what that meant to me was so great because today you know he's the godfather to my daughter
• 5:29
  And his wife, you know, the same, you know, so like, but, you know, what they would do at dinner, like, you know, how they would treat us, like we would sit at the table.
• 5:39
  There was prayer before dinner, you know, and what was cool is, you know, from that cultivated a thing, and it was kind of what we're talking about here, cultivated this deal where we were sitting at Chili's one night, and she said, we pray for this meal.
• 5:53
  And, you know, it was a shocking moment.
• 5:56
  And ever since then, we pray at every meal we have together before bed.
• 6:01
  Only thing where we don't pray is in the morning.
• 6:03
  And that's our own special time.
• 6:05
  She does her thing.
• 6:05
  I do mine.
• 6:06
  But, you know, it's cultivated in this thing.
• 6:09
  And, you know, that would not have happened unless two other people had dinner with us every Sunday and showed us how they were and how they interacted with each other.
• 6:18
  And that was the reason we started having people over.
• 6:21
  To be of service, to show other people that are in this recovery thing how we are, how we pray, how we treat each other, what that looks like to have this sober life.
• 6:33
  Because, man, I'll tell you, man, I used to have meals and stuff, but it was full of drug dealers and thugs, man.
• 6:39
  That's what it was, man.
• 6:40
  But we were talking about some stuff that, you know, was not conducive to society.
• 6:44
  Right.
• 6:46
  You know, that's where I think it was on yesterday's episode, I was talking about the parable of the soil, you know, the parable of the sower is what it's actually called.
• 6:53
  And how, you know, some of the seed is cast, you know, along the path, some is cast on the rocky, you know, ground, some is cast, you know, in the good soil.
• 7:02
  And that cultivation of the soil, and even the example you just gave, you know, having dinner with your sponsor and his wife, you know, that's one of the ways that you're cultivating or aerating the soil that you have.
• 7:13
  so that you can continue to bear good fruit. So the seeds of recovery, the seeds of faith can
• 7:19
  be planted. Because I know that you're sponsoring his wife for strong in their faith, because I've
• 7:25
  talked to them directly about that a time or two. I'm not telling anybody's story here or anything
• 7:29
  like that. So I know that that's a good place for you to be, to see those examples. And when you
• 7:35
  were talking about things like sobriety dates and sharing those either online or with friends or
• 7:41
  what have you. To me, it always goes back to, you know, how's it being done and what's the
• 7:45
  motivation, right? Because I can anonymity, the nutrition of anonymity is that when I'm posting
• 7:52
  those things, I don't say Alcoholics Anonymous. You know, I can say that I'm 13 years sober from
• 7:59
  alcoholism and I'm not breaking my anonymity because I'm not saying I am a upstanding, you know,
• 8:04
  I'm the president of AA or anything like that, or the president of NA or the president of OA or any
• 8:09
  type of A, so you can still maintain anonymity doing that because there's a balance, and this
• 8:14
  is true in recovery and in faith. If it is all just, to use the faith language, if all I care
• 8:22
  about and all I keep is a close personal relationship with Jesus, how is that serving others?
• 8:28
  If I never tell another person about my deep and abiding faith, how is that helping others?
• 8:34
  You know, we're called in the Bible, you know, Jesus said, go and tell the nations, you know,
• 8:39
  and baptize them and teach them everything that I've commanded you.
• 8:42
  That's what Jesus told us to do.
• 8:44
  When we go about doing that work, you know, taking that action is how we cultivate that
• 8:48
  soil.
• 8:49
  That is how we keep our recovery and our faith rooted in the new soil for me.
• 8:54
  And so it's taking all those and, you know, that small realization thing, kind of back
• 9:01
  to that, I keep getting stuck on that, is by sitting down and having dinner, you know, with
• 9:07
  your sponsor and his wife, somewhere along the way, there was a small realization in your life of,
• 9:12
  oh, we should be praying before every meal. And then you started incorporating that, you know,
• 9:17
  and those are examples that I think, you know, others can hear from, and maybe that's the, you
• 9:23
  know, the seed, the mustard seed of faith, you might say, and I think you had some more to say
• 9:27
  about that, that, you know, starts with others. The spiritual ripple says that over time, new growth
• 9:33
  appears, patience, courage, and love. And of course, those are just three of what in the Bible
• 9:37
  talks about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. You know, that's just the work that God naturally does in us
• 9:42
  when we're being faithful to live in life the way that Jesus teaches, or at least that is
• 9:47
  my perspective of it. And in Colossians chapter 2, verse 6 says,
• 10:03
  For me, it's all about living my life in a way that others can see,
• 10:09
  without me having to say a word, that I love God and that I love other people.
• 10:13
  We were talking about this, and I was really hoping you didn't steal a...
• 10:17
  Well, in Matthew 13, 23, it says, but the seed falling on good soul refers to someone
• 10:27
  who hears the word and understands it.
• 10:31
  This is the one who produces a crop yielding 160 or 30 times what was sown.
• 10:38
  So my first sponsor, Doug, he used to say this thing to me.
• 10:41
  He was like, you can't see until you can see.
• 10:43
  And that's why I had two giant eyeballs tattooed on my legs.
• 10:45
  Sounded like a good idea at the time.
• 10:47
  And he said, you can't see until you can see, and you can't hear until you can hear.
• 10:50
  And there was a moment.
• 10:51
  Where are the ear tattoos?
• 10:53
  Do I want to ask?
• 10:54
  Yeah, we're not going to.
• 10:55
  Okay, never mind.
• 10:56
  But, you know, when I think about that, and it's cool because I just thought about this,
• 11:02
  is my whole, like, because there's this moment I had.
• 11:05
  There's this moment that somewhere through steps one through 12, and I think it happens
• 11:12
  because our people are, hey, when does this happen?
• 11:14
  And I tell them somewhere in between one and 12.
• 11:16
  I don't know what it is.
• 11:17
  But I had a spiritual awakening at that moment, and I've had another.
• 11:22
  Anyways, but that is somewhere between 1 and 12.
• 11:26
  Now, I can't tell you where it is because everybody's journey is personal.
• 11:29
  But I will tell you on page 75 in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, it says we have begun to have a spiritual experience.
• 11:38
  Maybe somewhere in between 5 is where it starts, but it says we begin there.
• 11:43
  But, you know, when it says right here, it says, but the seed falling on good soil, but the seed
• 11:50
  falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. Man, I had to come
• 11:57
  to a place when I first came in and when I first came back in that I understood where I was at.
• 12:06
  I understood that I could not keep on living the way I was living, that I was tired, man. And we
• 12:12
  talked about it the other day, and it's on page 21 of the 12 and 12, it says it was an act of
• 12:18
  providence. An act of providence means God, because it's in capitalized letters, but it says it is
• 12:25
  truly awful to admit that glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such obsession for destructive
• 12:30
  drinking that only, and I'm going to change the word providence, that only an act of God can remove
• 12:36
  it from us. So that act of God, and it can happen day to day in my life today, just by talking
• 12:42
  with you or talking to somebody that I'm taking through the book.
• 12:45
  You know, whatever that relationship is, that act of God can come through and can just beam
• 12:50
  me up.
• 12:51
  I don't know if that's the right word, but it sounds good.
• 12:53
  Beam me up, Scotty.
• 12:54
  Anyways, but, you know, but it happens and it's truly cool because today I'm awake to see
• 12:59
  these things more and more and more because like you were talking earlier about like these
• 13:03
  little things that come up.
• 13:04
  Well, these little thoughts of somebody, somebody that I haven't thought of in a while or I think
• 13:09
  of all the time.
• 13:10
  Why don't I call them?
• 13:11
  Right.
• 13:12
  When I call them, make a phone call, say, hey, man, how you been?
• 13:16
  Where you been?
• 13:17
  What's been going on?
• 13:18
  When I do that action, right, the design for living, I get out of myself.
• 13:23
  And for some reason, that person that I call has some stuff going on in their life that
• 13:28
  is just unexplainable.
• 13:31
  Or they don't.
• 13:32
  And I'm able to just talk with them, whatever that is.
• 13:34
  But God interacts in that relationship in such a way that helps me.
• 13:39
  Maybe helps them, maybe not, but I know it helps me, so I'm not worried too much about that.
• 13:44
  But it's cool because I get to keep doing that and keep on growing that seed.
• 13:48
  And now I understand it, right?
• 13:50
  But I never understood it.
• 13:51
  And just like I said, you know, man, I couldn't see until I can see.
• 13:54
  I couldn't hear until I came right here.
• 13:55
  I was just thinking about just tying that all the way back, you know, into the life of faith.
• 13:59
  I mean, Jesus continually told others when he was teaching and preaching and doing ministry
• 14:04
  during those three years of his ministry prior to his crucifixion.
• 14:09
  He continually would say, let those with eyes to see, see, and let those with ears to hear, hear.
• 14:15
  So he constantly was calling us to be observant, to pay attention, to listen, and to learn.
• 14:21
  And so that, I mean, that just ties it all right back in for me.
• 14:26
  So let's close things out with our prayer for today.
• 14:29
  We look forward to seeing everyone back with us tomorrow.
• 14:32
  Corey and I will be back once again.
• 14:35
  Father, plant my life firmly in your truth.
• 14:38
  Through your Spirit, strengthen the roots of faith within me and help me grow in the character of your Son.
• 14:44
  Amen.
• 14:45
  Amen.
• 14:51
  Do that again because I...
• 14:53
  We're going to do a take three because I'm butchering this prayer.
• 14:55
  Okay.
• 14:58
  Take four?
• 14:59
  No, we don't need to take four.
• 15:00
  Corey!