The Baptism in the River Jordan - Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-24, John 1:29-34
When you are on the road traveling toward the realization of your
vision, you can get tired. Worn out. You can become empty and emptied out. You
can forget who you are and why you matter. You can forget why this vision
matters and forget the potential you glimpsed in it at earlier stages.
It is at this point that you need to refresh and renew your mental
energies. Wash off the dust and the grime of disappointment and the sweat of
all those labors. Reaffirm your worth and the worth of your vision. Enter into
the waters and wash off your doubts and your discouragement.
Renew yourself by remembering why this vision matters in the first
place. Who is it you are fighting so hard to reach? Why are you fighting so
hard for this goal? Who are you fighting? Reconnect with why you are the
right person for this vision and the reason this vision is worth the battle.
Seek out a mentor who can lead you to the place where you hear the affirmation
you need to keep going.
The Wedding Feast at Cana - John 2:1-12
Most people know the story of Jesus turning water into wine for a
young newlywed couple. Most people don't know what that wine signified. It
signified joy. That's why running out of wine was such a bad thing for a
wedding. It was an omen that the marriage would run out of joy, too.
Jesus gathered people who cared about that couple together and he
transformed their emptiness into fullness. He restored joy and he improved it.
Only he had the knowledge and the skills to do that. Nobody else could have
done it.
Jesus wouldn't have known about that need if someone else - his
mother - hadn't brought his attention to it. Her encouragement led him to make
their problem his problem. He entered into their story and used his talents and
gifts to transform it from tragedy into triumph.
In the process, he
re-committed himself to the service of the people he had chosen. He committed
himself to the journey to Calvary and he committed himself to serve the people
in good times or in bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health,
till death they did part.
When you're facing discouragement and you're tempted to quit,
connect with the people who need you. Enter into their story and search for
their need. Adopt that need as your own. Remind yourself of the pain it will
cause them if you don't see this through.
Use their pain to motivate you to
share more of your talents and gifts, to step out of hiding and take your game
to a new level. Make a commitment to serve them in good times and bad, for
richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part.
The Preaching of the Good News & the Call to Repentance - Luke 4: 42-43, Matthew 4: 23-25
After you've taken that step of making a commitment to serving
your particular people, it's time to step up your game and take it to a bigger
audience. It's time to get active, vocal, share it everywhere. You have good
news and you want to encourage people to make the changes in their lives that
they will have to make in order to bring your vision to life.
As you share that good news and you encourage others to make
changes, you'll find the courage you need to make more changes in your own
life. You will reaffirm your vision of the good news as you watch that good
news begin to make sweeping changes in the lives of the people around you.
You'll start gaining a following and you'll be able to impact more lives than
ever before.
The more you share this message, the more that you see the
evidence of positive change in the lives of the people around you, the more you
will be encouraged and inspired to continue making a difference.
And, sometimes, in the middle of serving others, you fail. You fall. You hurt them. Not that you intended to hurt them, but you do. It's important to recognize when this happens and to admit to it, to own the wrong you've done, and to use your failure as a lesson that will guide you in doing a better job of meeting the challenges the next time. It's important to seek the guidance of someone who is equally committed to you and to your audience in helping you understand why you failed and how to improve the next time.
The Transfiguration - Matthew
17: 1-13
As you are growing your following, gaining in power, strength, and
momentum, forces will gather to try and take you down. They will gather to try
and destroy your dream because they will see the potential it has for changes
they fear will destroy them and the comfortable life they've been living. You
will start to have attackers from all sides. These people will be powerful,
authorities with the ability to take you down.
You will have a decision to make. You will have to decide whether
or not you are willing to continue this fight or whether you are going to
surrender to your fears and give up. Choose carefully. One way leads to
the death of your dream. The other, quite possibly, leads to your death if not physically then materially.
You will need to take your most faithful followers with you and go
to a place where you can regain your vision. You will need to spend time
reminding yourself that this dream is bigger than you, that the need for change
is greater than you. You will need to draw strength from the visionaries of the
past so that you can find the courage to move forward into the future you know
is awaiting you with strength and power.
This moment will radically change you. It will mark you. And you
will never be the same.
The Institution of the Eucharist
- Matthew 26: 26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20
Right before Jesus went out to face the crucifixion, he ate a meal
with his disciples. This was no ordinary meal. It was transfused with Him. The
bread was transfused with Him, the wine was transfused with Him. It contained
the fullness of His power and His glory. He did this so that His disciples
would receive the undying strength and his supernatural power to fight the
upcoming battle without him. All 11 of those disciples who ate of this
supernatural food survived the battle. They were scarred, they were scared, but
they did not die. The only disciple who died was the one who didn't eat because
he'd left the table already.
Your battle ahead is going to require more than human strength. It
is going to require the strength of Love. All things except Love die. Hope will
need to be nourished and replenished. Joy will need to be renewed and restored.
Keep reminding yourself of Love. Keep walking with Love. Keep allowing Love to
be your lantern on the road ahead. Don't let yourself waiver in your commitment
to Love, even for a minute.
In all aspects of your life, you are going to need to keep
yourself filled with what is truly healthy for you. Otherwise, your hungers
will destroy you. If you hunger for love and you don’t fill that hunger with
the real thing, you’ll end up filling that void with junk relationships. If you
hunger for truth and you don’t fill yourself with the real thing, you’ll end up
filling that void with false hope and empty promises.
If you hunger for food, but you don’t fill
yourself with healthy stuff, you’ll end up stuffing your face with junk food.
If you hunger for security but you don’t anchor your life in the only truly
secure things there are, you’ll end up enslaved to your fears and settling for
empty promises of false security. So be sure that you are constantly feeding yourself
with the good stuff.
Come Back for Tomorrow's Journey: The Sorrowful Mysteries and Hope
Tomorrow we'll talk about the Sorrowful Mysteries and the role that suffering plays in strengthening you and shaping you into the leader you'll need to become.
Comments
Post a Comment