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August 8 – Willing to Make Things Right · The Daily Ripples Podcast

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Hey guys, good morning. It is Saturday,
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August 8th. This is Corey, willing to make
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things right. The Stone: Healing begins when I become willing
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to face the harm I've caused and take responsibility for it.
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Ripple 1 Practical: Today I will be honest about my past without
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becoming trapped by it. I cannot change what I have done,
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but I can become willing to make things right where possible.
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Peace grows when I stop avoiding what needs to be faced.
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Ripple 2 Spiritual: As I clean up the past, the Father replaces
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shame with humility in me. Christ forms a
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heart in me to pursue reconciliation, even when it is difficult.
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And the Holy Spirit gives courage to face old wounds and the
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willingness to take the next step toward healing.
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And, um, you know, we're talking about 8 and
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9, and we'll be talking about 8 and 9 for— or just 8 right now.
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But because there is a separation in it,
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and, um, I didn't realize the separation until I
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saw— like, until I experienced it, right? Because when
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you think, like, you know, I'm going to make a list of amends and,
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you know, do this, it and became willing to
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make these amends, all of them. And that's
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different than me playing it, because I
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think a lot of this stuff we just play around in our head, or at
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least I do. I say we, I play around with a
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lot of things in my head and have for my whole life. And I
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can play it out and play it out and play it out. But when I
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put it before me in black and white, like it suggests
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we do. And it says that on page 67, it said in the Big Book,
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it says, we saw— when we
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saw our faults, we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white.
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We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set
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these matters straight. And what's cool about that part, it's in Step 4.
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It's not even in Step 8. And I
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know that, uh, Man, when I was
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going through this the first or the second time, when I came back
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in the rooms and I was going back through this making the
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list process, man,
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things were really touching me. And I don't know if that makes sense, but things
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like when I would put them on paper, man, they would really affect
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me. Not affect me, but touch me in a way that it just pushed
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me against it. There was something that I couldn't it was blocking
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me. But I found the more and
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more I wrote, the— that was when the more and more my shoulders began
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to drop. Um,
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and like, I, I, I did some certain things, like, you know, I would say
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the Third Step prayer, because the Third Step prayer is interesting, right? Because like,
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it doesn't have an amen at the end of it. So I
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would say the Third Step prayer, and I would go into meditation and ask God
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to provide— to show me some names, some more names than that was on my
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list of my 4th step. And so show me some names
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of people I had affected. And then,
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I mean, you know, God would provide names for me.
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And then I would shut it down with the 7-step
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prayer. I would write those names down. I would go through the process
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of what I did to these people. How, you know,
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did I owe them money? Did I do this? Did I do, like, you know,
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how I affected their ambitions, personal relationships, security?
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I would do that, and man, my shoulders
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would drop. And then after that, I would thank God. I would thank
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Him for the— because this isn't so
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I can get all these relationships back out in the world.
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This is for me to grow my relationship with God so maybe
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I can grow relationships through God in the world.
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I don't know if that makes sense, but it makes sense to me.
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So when I come into this, if the whole deal is
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on page 44 of the big book,
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it says, if when you honestly
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want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking
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you have little control over the amount you take, you're probably alcoholic.
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If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only—
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so I have only circled, highlighted,
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underlined— a spiritual experience
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will conquer. So if I
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need to have a spiritual experience, you know, and it refers
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to this over on page 79 of the Big Book,
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it says, and this is in pages 76
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through 83. Those steps encompass
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steps 8 and 9, and they give you in complete detail
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every which way you should make amends, not any which way. And like,
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you know, because, you know, principle, you know, personalities come out when
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I'm talking to people in these rooms of why they shouldn't. But this book tells
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me every which way why I should. And here's the main
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reason, right? Because it said the only way to conquer this
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is with a spiritual experience. So on page 79,
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it says, reminding ourselves that
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we have decided to go to any lengths to find a
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spiritual experience, we ask that we be given the strength and the
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direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequence may
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be. We may lose our position or reputation or face jail, but we are willing.
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We have to be. We must not shrink
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at anything. And must is a circled word because must is a— that's
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not a suggestion. And so we get into this place of,
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hey man, are you willing to do this and not live on the basis
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of these suggestions as well? Because if I want to just get a suggested
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thing and— because I've been suggesting myself to do things my whole life,
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but when I go and do follow these directions, Clear-cut directions.
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There's no gray. I mean, you can really come down and
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if you really want to argue, but which one do you want to be?
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Do you want to be in this or do you— I mean,
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I'm saying it to you, but do
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I want to be in this or do I want to continue living in my
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way of life? And my way of life didn't work. I found that
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out. But let me tweak it a little bit and let me see
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if I can do it this way now. No, I don't think that's how the
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way it works. It's like, do I abandon myself to God in this deal,
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or do I not? I kind of really— I liked,
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uh, in Matthew,
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I think it was Matthew 23, Matthew 5:23,
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it says, therefore, if you're offering your gift to the altar and
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there remember your brother has something against you,
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leave your gift in the front of the altar. First go and reconcile
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to your brother, then come to offer your gift. So God, I think what it's
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saying, it's like, you know, hey, If you're coming to God's
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altar— if I'm coming to the altar to God and I got something back home
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I got to go make right, before I go give this gift at the altar,
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go make it right. And the Big Book aligns
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to that point exactly on page 164.
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It says, God will constantly
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disclose more to you and to us. Ask him in your morning meditation what you
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can do each day for the man who is sick. The answers will come if
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your own house is in order. And it's not talking about a physical house,
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I don't believe. It's talking about the spiritual, my spiritual
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house with God. But obviously you cannot
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transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship
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with him is right, and great events
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will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the great fact for
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us. So when I like, you know,
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is my house clean? You know, am I doing what
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God would want or am I still running off self-propulsion
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trying to arrange life to suit myself?
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And you know, man, sometimes I do. Sometimes I fall short. But like,
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you know, I've talked about this countless times, but you know, in meditations,
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you're following your breath. And you're following your breath and
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you're breathing in, you're breathing out, and you're
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just thinking about that breath coming back into one.
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And so you'll, I mean, for me at least, I'll go start thinking about my
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work or finances or
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anything in between or penguins. It doesn't matter.
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But the deal is, at least in some guided meditations,
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what I first started doing originally, It's like, hey,
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you know, it tells you if, hey, if you drift off, just come back to
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one. Well, that's what I'm doing
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with God, right? That's what I'm doing with these little prayers throughout my day that
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I will be doing. I'm just coming back to one with God.
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So I don't beat myself up too bad if I just get a little bit
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off track, because like, why would I? Because I'm just living in this human experience
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and this is what I'm supposed to be doing anyway.
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Living. Now I'm not hiding anymore.
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On, uh, in Matthew
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again, Matthew chapter 6,
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verse 33, it says, but seek first his kingdom
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and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
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Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
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worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its
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own. I was thinking about that the other day, and I
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was thinking about, you know, this spiritual condition.
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And the spiritual condition they talk about is on page 85
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of the big book. But, you know,
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the one thing that it doesn't tell me ever in this book is, you know,
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we just don't have to drink for one day at a time. Because, man,
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like, I If
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I'm powerless from alcohol, how do I even have the ability to
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drink not for one day? I can't do that on my own accord,
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right? So it's not talking about that.
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It's talking about, on page 85, it says,
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it does not exist for us. And we're talking about the thought
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of drinking. It says, we are neither cocky nor we are afraid. That is
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our experience. That is how we react so long as
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we keep in fit spiritual condition.
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Fit spiritual condition. So I had to get fit first,
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right? So getting fit takes a
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good amount of time. I know people that work their whole life off and they
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never feel fit. But then you think about a pro football
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player and what his conditioning looks like to stay fit, to stay
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active, to stay you know, out there on the field, and it's a
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lot of work. And doing things like this is just a piece
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of it, right? You know, I mean, I think it— I think when it's— I
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don't think, I know what— for me, when it starts, it's on awakening.
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But it goes on to say on page 85, it says, you know, we had
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to— it is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action
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and rest on our laurels. Laurels is past achievements,
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what I did yesterday. What I did last year,
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what I did the year before that? Am I resting on this
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old 4-step? Am I resting on all my old amends, or do I got
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some things I need to go make right today? And there is,
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man. I think the most important amends to make is the
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next one because that's all there is.
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And so that's where I was thinking about this one
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thing at a time thing because that's all I can do is let me clean
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up the street. One thing at a time, one day at a time. Let me
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go make amends to somebody. And man, like, I was thinking about this
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the other day, you know, we're gonna be talking about 8 and 9 for 2
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months. And what a cool thing. Like, you know, I got
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to confront a neighbor of mine yesterday
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and, you know, clear up some things with her. And because
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that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to show this,
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that God, I'm supposed to be a demonstration to God. For God,
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to live out there in the world amongst people and be
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a human just like them. And like,
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you know, so I don't— and I see other people, you know, they— there's
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this thing that, you know, my head at least blocks
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me sometime with my ego. I'm like, well, all these other people, they don't do
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that and they're okay. Well, I'm not. I didn't live like most people.
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Um, I didn't Most people don't go out and hurt
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people, and they don't go out and ruin families, and they don't go out and
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hurt their kids and do countless things, right?
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But I did. And it speaks to that effect
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on page 30 in the Big Book. It says, the delusion that we were like
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other people, or presently maybe, that means right now, has to be smashed.
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Presently maybe has to be smashed. And man, that's the dangerous
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place I've ever been in. Thinking that I was like other people.
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I, um, I can't live like that. I can't,
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I can't forget that I have to live in a way that's
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structured, for me at least. Some people don't have to,
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but, you know, I got to wake up first thing in the morning and bring
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God into my day. Throughout my day,
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little prayers. My thoughts— I,
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I like my thoughts today to be on other people because I like to be
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of, you know, service and love to those people.
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It says in the practical on here, it says, today I'll
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be honest about my past without becoming trapped by it. You know, can I
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walk down the aisles of Kroger and not worry about who's on the next aisle?
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Can I walk out of my house and look around my neighborhood and
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be okay? There was a time I didn't even want to come out of my
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house during the daytime because I didn't want to face the music of my
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neighbors, just look at them. And like, you know, it's not even like they're going
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to say anything, but it's just this look. And I had
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more intention of that look being bad than they probably did, because they were probably
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coming from a loving position, more loving position than I'll ever come from.
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Then it goes on to say in here, if I cannot change what I have
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done, and I cannot, but this book tells
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me what my job is to do.
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And I was talking to somebody about this the other day,
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and I was like, man, like, you know, I feel like,
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and we spent 2 months talking about it, but there's
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always been in these recovery rooms too much talk on these defects
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and shortcomings because I'm not trying to be
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this person that Corey thinks he needs to be. I'm trying to be a person
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that God wants me to be. And I don't know what that looks like.
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And God uses me in so many different ways.
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But on page 124, In the Big Book,
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it says, we grow by our willingness to face and
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rectify errors and convert them into assets.
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I'm going to read that again. We grow by our willingness to face
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and rectify errors and convert them into assets.
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My greatest defect, one of my greatest defects today,
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was drinking and doing absurd and obnoxious things when
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I drank, and I could not stop, and I kept on hurting my family
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and kept on being a disappointment to everybody around me. I could never
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live up to this person that I thought I wanted to be, or I thought
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you wanted me to be. But the cool thing today
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is I get to live up to what God wants me to be and to
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rectify my errors and convert them into assets and be of use to God and
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to be of use to you. And what a cool thing
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this is, to be able to do this and talk
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about these different concepts and this stuff. It means so much to me.
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And man, I'm going to end this with a
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prayer, and thank you guys for listening today on this Saturday.
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Prayer: Father God, give me the honesty to face the harm I've caused and willingness
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to make things right. Through your Holy Spirit, replace guilt with courage
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and avoidance with action. Shape my life through the example of Jesus
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and lead me toward healing and peace.