The Annunciation - Luke 1: 26-38
It begins. You get this
idea, this offer, or this invitation to do something. It's brilliant,
fascinating, and powerful. It's also frightening. It's going to mean big
changes for you. You aren't sure you're ready. You aren't sure you're the right
person.
At this stage, you have
two choices: let it go and pretend it didn't happen, or grab hold of it and
accept that if you have the idea, you have what it takes to make it. Accept
that if you received the offer or the invitation, it's because you were meant
to accept it.
You allow Hope to be conceived in you. You commit to it, and
you decide that you will transform that idea into a reality. Now it's time to
get to work.
The Visitation - Luke 1: 39-57
Once Hope is in you,
it urges you to act. It insists on being shared with others.
Resist that urge to share, and your dream begins to wither on the vine. The
idea dies. The invitation is fruitless. The offer dissipates.
Take it out into the
world, though, and you face dangers. You're going to have to go a long way
through some dangerous territory to find someone out there who can give you the
confirmation and the support you need to make this dream a reality. The journey
will tire you out. There will be people out there who will try to snatch your
idea, kill your dream, or take Hope from you. You have to decide to brave
that gauntlet anyway and continue on your journey.
You make the decision to
persist in bringing that idea to the right authority and when you do, you
receive an incredible confirmation and a tremendous blessing. In fact, you both
do. In working together, you both grow and both become more fruitful. You spread Hope and your vision to others.
The Nativity - Luke 2: 1-20, Matthew 2:1-12
You have made your idea
a reality, but it is puny and weak. It's under threat from a lot of areas. The
circumstances in which you find yourself are nothing like what you expected.
The only people who seem to listen to you are the outcasts and those who have
even less than you do.
Bringing Hope into the world has cost you a great deal. You've had to leave behind the comfortable and
the familiar. You are surrounded by those who absolutely do not understand a
bit of what you are trying to accomplish and they keep dumping manure on the
ground in front of you.
It's frustrating, it's discouraging, and the only thing
keeping you from giving up on your dream and keeping that newborn hope to yourself is the bright light of the possibilities you've seen shining overhead. You know it's got to be shared no matter how painful or difficult it is.
You'll be tempted to
move out of this place as quickly as possible, but if you do, hope will
die. There are threats that are bigger than you know out there hunting for your
dream, eager to kill it because they fear what you can accomplish. You
are where you are because this is where you need to be in order for your three
mentors to find you.
If you stay put, you
will be rewarded with three different mentors. These mentors will bring you
gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and encouragement. They will help you by pointing out
the source of the dangers to your dream and the encounter with you will change
both of your directions.
They will not be able to
go back to being who they are after their time with you, and you will be given
the courage to take your dream straight into the heart of enemy territory by
their visit. They will help you defeat your fears by confronting their source.
The Presentation - Luke 2: 21-38
When the mentors are
gone, it will be time to present yourself and Hope to the greater authorities. It won't be
easy. There will still be those out there looking to destroy your dream. You
will have to persevere in spite of those threats. The right authority won't
always be the first one you speak to.
Some of those
authorities will dismiss your dream because they can't see its possibilities. It doesn't meet their expectations. It isn't their vision. Some of those authorities will try to kill your dream out of envy or fear. You'll have
to protect your dream and persist in finding the right authority, the one who
can help you launch it and prepare it for greater things.
The right authority has
been waiting for an idea like yours for a very long time. Their entire life, in
fact. They will recognize it instantly for what it is. They will confirm to you
its potential and power and they will provide you with additional warnings
about what you must prepare for on the road ahead.
The Finding in the Temple - Luke 2:41-52
At some point in time,
the journey gets tough. Hope seems to vanish. The potential that shone so
brightly just weeks or even days before dim and fade from view. Every
indication that you normally use to judge whether or not you are on the right
path just disappears. You put all this work and effort into things only to experience loss. You feel like a failure. You have no idea what happened.
You wonder if it’s you.
Did you somehow make a mistake? Did you forget something? Your expectations of how things are supposed to progress will lead you
to become distressed and dismayed. You will wonder if the dream is dead or
harmed.
Discouragement and doubt
creep into your heart. Discouragement tells you that you should just quit. This
isn’t worth it. It’s too hard. You’ve made a mistake. Nothing you’re doing is
making a difference anyway.
Doubt will make you
wonder if you’re kidding yourself. How could you believe that you received that
invitation? How could you possibly have believed that the offer is real? How
could you ever make a real difference? You’re just you. You’re nobody special.
And if you listen to
doubt and discouragement, you will quit. You will give up. You will turn back
and you will be defeated. But this isn’t how it’s meant to go. When doubt and
discouragement show up, what it means is that you’re closer to a big breakthrough
than you’ve ever been in your whole life. It’s time to go all-in and step on
the gas.
But first, you need to
understand what discouragement and doubt are really telling you. Discouragement
tells you that you need to check your compass – why are you doing this? What’s
going to change if you succeed? You need to figure out why you are doing all
this work. What’s the point of it all? Because if it’s not being done for the
right reasons, it won’t be worth doing at all.
Doubt tells you that you
don’t have enough information. You need more confirmation that your plan is
going to work. So take it out and use it. Serve others with it. Get that vital
feedback you need to help reassure yourself that what you have is good and
worth doing. And then get back out there.
Look for confirmation. Eventually,
if you keep looking, you will find it. What is happening right now is that
there are forces at work on your behalf. Connections are being made while you sleep
to bring together the forces you will need to help make your dream a reality.
Far from being dead, your dream is hard at work maturing into the powerhouse
that it must become to transform the world in ways you'd never even imagined
were possible.
Tomorrow's Offering: The Luminous Mysteries and Hope
I hope you'll come back tomorrow when I discuss the role of the Luminous Mysteries in helping you hold on to hope during difficult times.
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