Living your dreams...

The thing that is difficult for us to understand and fathom (or maybe it is just me), is that whatever grand plans and dreams we have for our life, whatever best case scenario "someday" plans that we hope to achieve, God has even bigger plans for us!

It is true. If we would truly let God's will take over, we would be happier than we could ever imagine and do greater things than we could ever imagine. Someone named Emmet Fox once said (or possibly wrote)(emphasis mine):

"The most secret, sacred wish that lies deep down at the bottom of your heart, the wonderful thing that you hardly dare to look at, or think about - the thing that you would rather die than have anyone else know of, because it seems so far beyond anything that you are, or have at the present time, that you fear you would be cruelly ridiculed if the mere thought of it were known - that is just the very thing that God is wishing you to do or be for him. And the birth of that marvelous wish in your soul - the dawning of that secret dream - was the voice of God Himself telling you to arise and come up higher because He had need of you."

I am sure we all have those things deep down inside of us, that we want to achieve but we are not sure if we ever will. Heck, for me, this page is one of those things... I always wanted to do something like this, but was scared that people would think it was dumb, or not like it, or nobody would read it, etc. Finally I decided that if I really wanted to do it and really felt called to do it, then all of that other stuff didn't matter!

Such is everything in life, all of our hopes and dreams. We might be met with failure (almost certainly), but that shouldn't deter us. If we are following our dreams and God's plan, then the pursuit will always lead us higher and closer to God and closer to what we were created to be.

On Sacrifice

In Mitch Albom's popular book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," he writes:

"You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father." (93)

Most of us generally grumble when we have to sacrifice something that we want to do, something that we love, or something that we think that we need. However, we should be happy when we get to sacrifice, as that's what life and love is all about.

The greatest example of sacrifice, of course, is Jesus dying on the cross, laying down His life for our sins. He showed us that the way to love is to sacrifice, even to the point of death.

In a little booklet called "Becoming a Real Man of God," written by Fr. Roger Landry, he talks about sacrifice and love:

"Love is not merely "wishing" another the best, but a willingness to choose to give of oneself - even to the point of sacrificing one's own interests, desires, and life - for someone else. This is the type of love that will lead to genuine fulfillment and happiness, because this is the type of love that will help us become the real image of God."

Many times we hear or even say that we care about a friend or loved one so much that we would "die for them." That is great, but that is missing the point. Love and sacrifice is rarely about actually dying for someone, but it is about when have to sacrifice your time for the good of another.

It is when you finally get some free time, but you choose to spend it by helping a friend in need. It is when someone is irritating and annoying you, but you choose to be their friend and love them. It is when you change your habits or improve bad habits in order to help someone else live better. It's about making the time for someone when you don't really have time to give.

This is what sacrifice is all about. It is rarely grandiose, but it is about the small actions that happen everyday. This is what it means to walk in the footsteps of Christ and be an image of God for others.

Scripture Sunday: Matthew 14: 17-20

Every Sunday on this site I will take some time to look at a passage from the Bible that I like and think is great... though they could obviously be presented by themselves without further mention, I will throw my two cents in on what the verse(s) mean to me.

Today I would like to look at a couple verses from the 14th chapter of Matthew. It is one of the most popular and well-known parts of the Gospel, and it is also one of my favorite! It is the multiplication of loaves and fish.

(17) But they said to him, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have here." (18) Then he said, "Bring them here to me," (19) and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. (20) They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over - twelve wicker baskets full."

The most obvious thing that jumps out in this Gospel is the miracle performed by Jesus, who turned five loaves and two fish into more than enough food for five thousand men (plus women and children).

However, to me, the deeper meaning of this Gospel passage is different.

When Jesus asks the Apostles to perform a task (feeding the five thousand), they are incredulous - they do not trust that the Lord will provide for them and allow them to carry out the mission that they have been called to perform. In Mark's Gospel version of the story, they say "Are we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?"

But Jesus tells them to bring everything that they have, however little it may be. They are surely thinking that He is crazy, but Jesus knows that if they just give what they have, it will be enough. Indeed, it will be more than enough.

The same is true in our own lives. Sometimes we are called to things in our own lives that we do not think we are capable of, or tasks that we may feel are too great to perform. However, if we just give Jesus everything that we have, however little we may think it is, it will be enough. Indeed, there will even be some left over that God gives to us.

If Jesus can turn five loaves and two fish into enough to eat for 5,000+ people, what can he do with our time and talent?

About the title of this blog

If you asked people their favorite Bible verse, you would get hundreds of answers (if you asked enough people, you would get thousands of different answers). There are an incredible amount of great Bible verses; God is that good!

Because of that, it's tough to pick a favorite verse from the Bible. However, if I was held at gunpoint and asked to pick my favorite Bible verse (first off, I hope to never be in that situation; secondly, what a strange request from the person holding the gun, but I suppose that is why this is a hypothetical example), I would pick Luke 1:38.

"Mary said, 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

Of course, we hopefully know the story. Mary is told that she is pregnant, and not just with any child, but with the Son of God. Practically speaking, there are many consequences. Since she is not married, she will likely have a difficult time within society. Since Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, knew that he was not the father of the child, she had to guess that he would leave her. On a larger level, I have to imagine that the possibility of raising the Son of God to be a rather daunting one.

Yet, she replies without hesitation, essentially telling the Angel Gabriel, "I am here only to do God's work. Let His will be done, I will do what He wants."

This is the attitude that we are always called to have. Let us always follow Mary's example and say to God, "May it be done to me according to your word."