Today I am going to talk to you about faith, which is the candle we have now lit in our hearts for the second Sunday of Advent.
Matthew 17:20 says, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
A mustard seed is very small. You only need a little faith, but it is essential. Without faith we will not accomplish anything. If there is something you want to do & you are waiting for someone else to do it for you, you may be waiting a very long time. We need to be an active participants in our own lives. God is always there supporting and guiding us, but we have to be willing to take the first step with the faith that we can accomplish anything that we set out to do. If you need help it will be provided, but you need to do your part. If you are telling yourself that you cannot do it, then you will be right; you will not be able to do it because you have no faith in yourself and your ability to do what is yours to do, with God’s grace supporting you.
Is there something that you wanted to accomplish this year that you have not done yet? The year is not over. What is it? Perhaps the goal will not be fully realized until the new year, but you can set it in motion now. What is a step that you can take now toward that goal? It can be a small step, but there needs to be an initial step to set your goal in motion. Put your goal in writing. List steps that will get you to the goal. Small steps feel more manageable, so break your goal down into small steps. Start now by taking the first small step you have listed. Have faith in your ability to take that first step. The Divine is cheering you on! Go, take that first step! You are my beloved child. I have faith in you. Have faith in yourself. I am supporting you. I know you can succeed! I will be with you every step of the way.
It took me a total of 16 years to get my bachelors degree. I started out at my local community college when my children were young, taking only a few classes each semester. Sometimes it was only one class. Sometimes it was two or three. My children were in elementary school and I wanted to be able to be there for them. I received my AA Degree in Child Development, and got a job teaching young children.
A year later I got a job teaching at the Child Development Center at our local University. A benefit of that job was free tuition at the University for employees who wanted to take classes. I signed up and again took only a few classes each semester, most of the time it was two classes, and some semesters only one class. My children were in middle and high school now, and I wanted to be able to participate in their activities. My classes were at night, so after a long day working with children, I hung out in the music listening room at the student union, ate a little something, and read my textbooks until my classes started.
I graduated with my Bachelors Degree at the same time that my eldest daughter graduated with her Bachelors degree! We walked in the same graduation ceremony! Getting my Bachelors degree meant a raise in pay, and 9 years later, when a supervisory position opened, I had the degree necessary for the position and received a promotion. As I did my part, taking the steps that were before me, I was met with the grace of God’s assistance.
A few years later, I received a Divine prompting to attend a seminary program to get my Masters Degree in Divinity. This was not even a goal I had, but at a meditation retreat I attended, several people asked me if I had ever thought of taking the seminary program. I responded emphatically that I had not ever thought of taking that program and I had never thought of being a minister, but now the Divine idea had been planted in my consciousness. I can still picture that time as if it was yesterday. I said no that year, but a Divine idea does not leave you alone. It nags at your consciousness. So the following year I applied. The program was several thousand dollars per semester and it was a 4 year program. The Child Development Center, where I worked, was now under Associated Students, who would pay tuition for programs that were not at the University, but that contributed to the employee’s job skills. I applied for the tuition assistance with the reasoning that the program was a leadership skills program, and I was a supervisor. I told myself that if Associated Students agreed to pay my tuition, that would be my answer, and I would enroll in the 4 year seminary program with God’s grace. And guess what? Associated Students did agree to pay my tuition, and I attended all 4 years, tuition free! It was a lot of work, attending classes 2 nights a week & one weekend a month for 4 years, writing a master’s thesis in the 4th year, but it was all worth it! I graduated in 2012 with a Masters Degree in Divinity and today, through the grace of God, I am an ordained minister in Divine Science. Take the step that is before you with faith that you can accomplish anything with God’s help and God’s grace.
What is that something that you want to do, but can’t see the way forward? Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Can you believe that God will support your efforts, no matter how small? What is a small step that will move your goal into activation? What is next? You don’t need to see the entire plan. You don’t need to know all of the details of how you will get there. If the goal seems too big, remember that the idea would not have been given to you if you did not have the capacity to achieve it with God’s help. Your idea, your goal, is your assurance of things hoped for. You hope for the activation of this goal, but you don’t know how you will get there. Your faith is the conviction of things not seen. With God’s assistance, the way will be revealed a step at a time. As you take one step, the next step will be revealed. The most significant goals are the ones we feel deeply about, but have no idea how to accomplish. Those are Divine ideas gifted to you.
Mary and Joseph set off for Bethlehem to fulfill their duty to be registered, without a reservation at a hotel. They were traveling by foot, with pregnant Mary on a donkey, surely a slow mode of transportation. But they had faith that God would provide what they needed at the time it was needed. The inns were full, but they did not give up. One innkeeper offered the stable where the animals slept, and they gratefully accepted his offer. They would not have to sleep on the cold, hard ground. They would have a protected place to sleep. Mary birthed the Christ Child in that modest setting. That was the first step for a fully realized soul who would impact the world with his Christ Consciousness from that time forward. Divine Love, empathy, kindness and caring were birthed that night. The angels sang of the blessing of a fully realized soul gracing the Earth with his presence. Mary and Joseph did their part, taking the steps that were before them. The rest was in God’s hands.
My friend, Chuck Sandy, wrote an advent book called Walking in the Light, A 28 Day Pilgrimage for Advent or Anytime. Chuck walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across northern Spain in 2014, so he knows quite a bit about perseverance toward a goal. He uses what he learned to support and inspire others with the motto: “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.” In his writing for the second Sunday of Advent, which is today, he says:
“May the candle you light for hope turn your hopes into happenings,” wrote a friend. I really like that: turn your hopes into happenings. But how does one do that? Maybe the answer if in the verb. Turn: as in a new direction. Turn: as in turn around. Sometimes that’s all it takes. But where to start?
A teacher I love suggests first looking carefully at one area of your life that doesn’t seem to be working out very well. What are you doing, and how are you doing it? If you’re a list maker, make a list. If you’re a writer, write descriptions. If you’re more visual, make sketches. Whatever you do, look.
Then find one small change you can make and make it. Now look again. What’s happening now? Are things getting better? Great. Keep going and pay attention to what’s changing. No? Go back and change something else. Then do it again.
By consciously and continually making small changes, we change. We also begin to see that making small changes can lead to transformation, and that the power to turn things around is not only within reach, it’s within us. In today’s advent readings (Mark 1:1-8) we encounter John the Baptist out in the wilderness, calling us to turn back. To turn around, to head off in a new direction, and by doing so, to see things differently, to have a change of heart, to be heartened and to have hope.
But don’t just stand around hoping, John says. Make room for hope by taking action. Though the darkness is being pushed back, you’ve got to do your part and prepare the way. Take a step. Turn around. Make a change. Do what’s needed to turn your hopes into happenings. You not only have the right; you’ve been called. (End of quote) I thank you, Chuck, my dear friend, for sharing your wisdom.
“May the candle you light for hope turn your hopes into happenings.” I like that. And faith is what is needed to take the steps that turn your hopes into happenings. Faith in yourself and faith in Divine support is what is needed to move forward. You are a Divine expression. You have all that you need with God’s grace. Isaiah 40:31 says “…they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall grow wings as a dove; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” What is your dream? Take that first step to turn your hopes into happenings with faith in the Divine support that is always there for you, if you will only have the faith of a mustard seed.
I wish you many blessings in this beautiful Advent holiday season. May your heart be filled with Divine Love, hope and faith.
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