July 6 - Naming What's Underneath

The problem is rarely what's on the surface. Pastor Mike and Cristi close out their run together with an honest look at the fear that hides underneath our irritation, anger, and control. What if the real problem is not what I'm feeling on the surface, but what I'm afraid of underneath? Cristi opens with her own pattern — burying irritation to spare feelings or avoid conflict, letting it sit until it finally boils over into something bigger than it needed to be. Nine and a half times out of ten, she admits, once it comes out and they talk it through, she feels better — so why not start there? Mike gently presses: what's the fear underneath? You can almost always find one beneath whatever we're hesitant to name. For her it's not wanting to create unnecessary conflict when she loves where they are. For him, he's honest that his fear is often just selfish — not wanting to be bothered, not wanting to have to do something in the moment he'd rather not. But he names the recovery truth: the meeting that means the most is the one you didn't want to go to. He tells the story of a season about ten years ago, struggling and pulling back, when a friend with 43 years of sobriety called to check on him and told him to come back to the meeting and take the cotton out of his ears and put it in his mouth. He did. And less than a year later, that cleared path led him to Cristi. Psalm 34:4 anchors it — I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Mike unpacks seeking as both prayer and meditation — speaking and listening — and, through Matthew 25, as service: sometimes seeking the Lord means lacing up your shoes and going to be of use to someone else. Cristi lands the run on peace — not earned by doing, but a gift from God to experience, the thing that opens up the capacity to do more and be more. And Mike's close says it all: why didn't you just tell me, Jesus? Oh, wait — he did. I was just too stubborn. Fear loses power when it is brought into the light. Christian recovery | 12-step faith | sobriety devotional | naming fear | what's underneath | prayer and meditation | seeking through service | addiction recovery | AA and faith | sober living | daily reflection Daily entries at dailyripples.com — [email protected] Daily Ripples connects recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day.