Tag Archives: #faith

Manure

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We are farmers.

We spend a lifetime occupying our own plot of land. There may be droughts, there might be bumper crops.  But in the end, when it comes time to harvest, the yield is entirely on us.

Now of course, every farmer goes about his business as they are made.

Certain ones may  find ways to extend their growing season beyond that of their neighbor.  Methods will vary from plot to plot.  Some automate while others will choose  “old school” and harness a horse.  An engineered,  hybrid approach will suit one while taking an organic, “back to the earth” approach will become  a better fit for others. Ultimately, you have to be your own farmer.  Be true to yourself.  What may flourish for others may be just weeds for you.

Though seasons, methods,  crops and yield may differ  from field to field, being farmers we all soon share one common trait; expertise at spreading manure.

It may provide a temporary  sudden burst of excitement, color and growth.  It may assuage fear, anxiety or insincerity.  But with the next rain or two, a heat wave or cold spell, it dissipates, burns-out or becomes a stagnant mass, losing both  impact and intensity. Continual applications of manure might make you feel better, but can merely distract you from the truth.

And ruin a crop.

To  make the things  you truly want take root and flourish in your plot requires some discernment.  Patience. Courage. And honesty.  So get to  know every inch of your  acreage. Walk the fence lines over and over and over again. Learn the lay of your land.  Pry up those rocks that work their way out of the ground.  Dig up the stumps.  Know the predators.  Cut back the brush and pull out weeds that can begin to invade, choke and overtake your land.

And spread less manure.

Embrace the nature of your  soil.  Its texture, smell and even taste was made for you. Learn  what grows well and understand what crops will  enrich, invigorate and bring that piece of ground  to an uncommon level of abundance. You cannot grow the same thing year after year and expect the same yield.  In time, the yield  will drop.  The soil will become starved.  And all of a sudden, what was once your staple – will no longer produce.  Your land will become barren.

Spreading more manure won’t bring it back.

So as you begin to blossom, identify the crops that  grow with little effort or attention, harvest them religiously, build up your stores and share the abundance with others.  Attend to the crops that have been planted with the best of intentions but never seem to take root. Get them to grow.  Move things around from season to season.  Rotate. Mix.  Match. Find ways to make all of them thrive together.  Improve your soil, make things truly grow. One  bumper crop after another. Season after season.

Then, as any good farmer does, go easy on the manure.

Pure joy.

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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. “

James 1:2-8

As we leave the old, the comfortable, the familiar and make our way into the new, disquieting and unseen that lay ahead, all of us will be tested in some fashion or another.  

We can decide to respond with fear, an attitude of avoidance  or ignore  these challenges altogether.  But then again,  we can choose to embrace them for what they truly are.  

Lessons. 

These  will come in all shapes imaginable, endless varieties of configurations, woven into  layers.  And over time, by actively embracing faith,  its sibling perseverance will come to fruition  and their meanings will become evident.  

It is not to say that these meanings are necessarily only an end result.  That  “ah ha !” moment.  Could very well be that they make themselves known in various forms.  

Perhaps as  the time it took to discern.  Maybe as a temporary setback.  Or set aside so that another more urgent lesson could be attended to.  

It could have been experienced as  changes that occurred within our being as we embraced these lessons.  How we came to grow and evolve into something we were intended to be.   

Deeper lessons still. 

All of which depend on our ability to  believe in what could not yet be seen.  

Faith.  

Resolutely sticking to it, with unfettered resolve, while letting go at the same time.  

Perseverance. 

All because we believe in what we have not yet seen.

Faith  and perseverance exist in a perfect union. The active act of patience – waiting for what you know to be true  – so that you can nourish the  persistence that enables you to make the journey .  Leading us to discover the life we intend to live.  

All so that you may be mature, complete and not lacking anything. 

And realize the product of your endeavor. 

Pure joy.

Confluence

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“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”

– Henry David Thoreau 

Maybe you have noticed a transformation. 

Perhaps you are gaining a sense of this. 

Feeling its tug. An awareness of gravity.  How the mass of  your collective thoughts, words and deeds have led you to this instant. 

Impacting someone.  Making something.  Leading somewhere.

For they all matter.  And even now, both they – and you – are still being shaped.  

Taking all that you have been up to now – and making you into what you are to become. The embodiment of all that is the best in you; character, excellence, perseverance and leadership.  

Your intentions then finally and irrevocably become reality.  

A convergence of age, ability, experience. The confluence of discipline, desire and dreams. In something altogether new.  That will stand  alone. That will never happen precisely in this fashion ever again. 

Long ago, each of you entertained the smallest germ of a thought.  A glimmer of a dream. 

At that moment, you decided.  You chose a destination. 

But a  path was needed.  Direction determined.  A pace to be set.   

You let go.  Abandoned yourself for one another.  Subservient for a greater good.  Exerting the will to expend yourself in all aspects of your being. Succumbing to a level of  self-discipline that ultimately created this extraordinary circumstance. 

Creating a singular vision, originating from a common perspective.

“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; … and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”   – James Allen

What your souls  harbor is especially important right now.  For as I speak, what  you have always wanted is right there. In your path. Within reach.  

The allure of what lay just ahead may be tempting.  You might want to peek. To veer left a little.  Or to the right.  To get up on tippy toes to take a gander. To peer over the top. 

Yet,  you must not stray.

To look ahead is to leave this moment.  Lifting one’s gaze up,  around or under will skew your  trajectory.  A change in perspective will reduce focus.  Obfuscate vision. Dissipate intention.  Impede effort. Foster missteps.  

You could lose sight of your path. 

Distractions are apt to be abundant. Self induced.  Born of doubt. Fear. Expectation. Anticipation.  Yet focus is not meant to exist in the absence of distractions. It is a trait intended to exist in spite of them. 

So just as you chose this path, you must now decide to maintain focus. 

To honor your  vision regardless of the situation. Committing to preserve that most singular and proper perspective.   To abide by the very essence of discipline.  Expending  unparalleled levels of effort and persistence. Exerting uncommon character and leadership.  Aspiring to the highest standards of attitude and attention. 

To finish.  

To relentlessly pursue  excellence. 

And succeed.   

By setting a tone that rings true to your vision alone.  

Converging on your path.  

So that you all flow together at one point.

In this stand alone  moment. 

…by the ego.

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“…we are dominated today by the ego-drama in all of its ramifications and implications. The ego-drama is the play that I’m writing, I’m producing, I’m directing, and I’m starring in. We see this absolutely everywhere in our culture. Freedom of choice reigns supreme: I become the person that I choose to be.

The theo-drama is the great story being told by God, the great play being directed by God. What makes life thrilling is to discover your role in it.

This is precisely what has happened to Mary. She has found her role—indeed a climactic role—in the theo-drama, and she wants to conspire with Elizabeth, who has also discovered her role in the same drama.

And like Mary, we have to find our place in God’s story.” 

Father Robert Barron

Without a doubt, discovering your role in the great play is meant to be a thrilling endeavor.

But at the same time, it can also be  an unnerving, unsettling, daunting and down right scary experience as well.

That too comes with the territory. For you are meant to dig deep into this, His audition.

You have to find the courage within to allow Him to write, produce and direct you in the role of a lifetime. Embracing your freedom to choose to follow His script.

Allowing yourself to grow into  the character He has seen you as, and longed for you to become before you were even a glimmer or gleam in the eyes of others. 

Finding  your spot; whether in front of, on, to the side or back stage.

And practicing a faith that prepares you to deliver in thought, word and deed upon His cue.

Talk about character development.

Mary and Elizabeth were pivotal figures in His great play.

They intentionally and willingly found their mark on His stage.  And allowed themselves to unconditionally follow His lead in the theo drama for the ages.

So if you think  your story line isn’t what you thought it would be, let not the plot thicken. Seek to change the author.  For the Holy Ghost is a writer extraordinaire.

And you were built to pursue the career path in parallel with  His two foremost leading ladies.  On a journey that took them to follow His light.

Rather than seeking one that was bound to flicker.

A temporary incandescence that is kindled only by the ego.

By Him.

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At Sunday’s mass, the first and second reading, and then homily all espoused one uplifting theme of incredible resonance.  Something to the effect that “we surrender the past and embrace an exodus towards a new life and re-creation”. That by surrendering the material aspects of living as we do and moving towards a more spiritual foundation and existence, a lasting and truly meaningful fulfilment could be attained. 

Life re-created.

Now material aspects as understood might be taken solely as wealth, position, prestige and other such “things” that we come to crave, desire, possess and accumulate.  And yet, upon  reflection of the central tenet offered yesterday  morning, one could expand that definition of the “material” in our lives to include the wrongs we have endured as well as those we have chosen to commit and inflict on others. 

Sin. 

In time, those too will become weighted and onerous objects. Generating a mass  of discomfort, disillusionment and despair.  Material that becomes stowed away in the mind and body.  

Burdening the soul.  

The act of surrendering them will take time for they are things we have become accustomed to bearing and carrying with us.  “Just part of life” we tell ourselves. “Something” we need to carry.  After all, they did what they did to me.  And I most certainly did what I did to them. Material that can overtake our being.  

“A going out” or “departure” literally defines exodus.  

Perhaps from this perspective, the outcome of surrender might be a going out of your current self to become what you were meant to be. What He sees you to be.  Making a departure from disillusionment and despair cleans the slate, offering fertile grounds to grow  a new life.   

An existence with a more spiritual basis.   

Surrender so that you may re-created. 

By Him.