DREAM BIG! HAVE FAITH! STAY FOCUSED!

 

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.

Psalm 25

What is it about certain people that makes them successful in achieving what they set out to do and reach their greatest potential? Is it luck? Do they have better connections with people of power and influence? Does God have favorites? I don’t think so! I believe they have two things: singleness of purpose in where they want to go and the disciplined personal habits that will take them there.

The problem is, many people are not clear about what they want, have no passion for any specific goal and lack the discipline that it would take to get there. As a result, they settle for lives of mediocrity and superficiality. Because it takes courage to dream big, many settle for too little.  Because they are fundamentally ambivalent in their approach to life, instead of being a force of nature, they become feverish, selfish, little clods of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making them happy, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw.

Clarity about what one wants out of life must be combined with focused attention and disciplined habits. The habits that diminish us require no effort and are usually the result of acting without real thought, while the habits that will help us reach our goals require effort and laser-like focus. In other words, we must truly want what we want.   

St. Charles Lwanga, one the Ugandan martyrs, a convert to the faith, with laser-like focus on his new-found faith and with unbelievable personal discipline and determination, was able to endure a painful death, inspire his companions to do the same and march through the gates of heaven to claim his prize!

I am certainly not martyr material, but I do know, from personal experience in my own small way, that once one is truly committed to clear goals and disciplined habits, God has an uncanny way to make sure he or she has his help and grace to reach great heights.  

I have always been inspired by the teaching of Jesus in this regard when he told us that if we ask, seek and knock, what we look for will be given to us. The real secret in this regard is not to be ambivalent in asking nor lacking in confidence that God will give it to us in due time, if it is truly right and good for us to have. In fact, that help usually comes from some of the most unlikely sources, from even unknown people and quite often at a time that truly surprises. 

Looking back over my life, I am amazed at the help that seemed to come from nowhere to help me in ministry. When I really wanted to learn to preach as a seminarian, the United Church of Christ gave me an opportunity in Crater Lake National Park. When really I wanted to learn parish revitalization, the Presbyterian Church USA gave me a full scholarship for a Doctor of Ministry degree. When we restored the Cathedral of the Assumption, sixty-seven percent of the funds came from non-Catholics. When I needed funds to build spaces for the new retired priest program at Saint Meinrad, one column in The Record, the Archdiocese of Louisville's weekly,  attracted over a half million dollars. The biggest dream of all, of course, is to reach the end of my life as a priest – not a former priest, not just a priest in name only – but a happy, faithful and effective priest in whatever way God calls me! I will get there if I let God “teach me, lead me and guide me,” as the psalm says today! …. or as the Rule of Saint Benedict says, “Listen carefully, my child, to the master's instruction, and attend to them with the ear of your heart…”

Brothers and sisters! Dream big! Have faith! Stay focused! Watch what happens!