God hides. Often this is mistaken for not being real (doesn’t exist), or at least not being here (doesn’t care). But God can be found, if we are willing to suspend disbelief. Where do we find Him? Which religion directs us to real God (the One by definition behind all things)? Perhaps the nature of this God will reveal the mystery of His hiddeness.

Is the universe out to get us? Is bad luck really a thing, and if so is it out to get ME?  This week we talk through how seeing luck in reverse can be a form of fatalism where we become the victim of a universe against us. We passively assume the plans of this malevolent force without challenge. We must change our thinking on this to dismantle the reality of its own logic and set ourselves free. Your freedom is on the line.

Is luck real?  If so, does it actually interfene in this world?  This week we begin a mini-series on the seemingly spontaneous nature of reality, especially as it relates to success.  Do factors like luck, which is out of our control, determine reality behind the scenes? Are we pawns more or less in a bigger game of life?  We wrestle together with such questions as we consider the potentially dangerous outcomes of believing certain things about luck.  Are you lucky?

The first step of seeing into the future is to accurately see what is currently in the present.  What we are looking for lies directly in the everyday things right in front of us. We must get through those layers of things right under our noses.  In our midst every day are the treasures we seek, the ones necessary for seeing the future.    

Without a vision the people perish.  But who has the right or even the ability to articulate a shared vision?  In this blog we discuss the need for a vision to find its articulator.   It is not arbitrary.  The vision that captivates you does so for a very specific reason.  Your articulation of it may just be what we need to move forward.  Tell us about it!

Is seeing visions a thing of the past?  Reserved for prophets and seers?  Or is the exercise of innter visioning actually essential to our ability to inspire and direct?  You have a dream.  You may not have framed it that way, yet.  But you have one.  And learning how to articulate it is is essential to helpng you achieve it.

In the same way that a lying addict spiraling out of control will be exposed, so someone moving deliberately in the Spirited direction of their vision will be “exposed,” or revealed.  Eventually.  The quiet, internal work will be discovered.  We don’t know how, or where, or when.  That’s the fun of the Story.  It does not belong to us, we belong to it.  Stay the course!    

We have been cast in the most important story ever.  There will be times you feel totally unworthy for the part, and times you will prove that fear to be valid.  You will mess up.  Get back in.  There are many entry points back in, take one.  The story is too important and might get lost without you.   

Growing where you are planted may not seem like a choice, but believe it or not it is.  None of us had the ultimate choice of deciding when and where we are "planted" on planet earth.  We were just born.  But in that place we do have, and will always have, the painful free choice of growing, that is receiving.  It is passive, sure, but also very active.  Grow, or start dying.

Your feet will dry out. Your shoes will get cleaned. All the mud will firm up. Eventually this phase of serious testing will be over. But not its lessons. Like the pain of a woman giving birth is soon forgotten once holding baby, so we, once through the sludge, will forget its pains. We will arrive. We will celebrate. We will take joy knowing we made it through the sludge.

When starting down a new road we inevitably have to walk through sludge.  The sludge is the steps we take when starting a new project, long before things are crystalized.  We must keep walking long before we can be sure we are making progress.  We must keep walking when the mud is up to our knees.  We must keep walking.  Don’t let the sludge be an excuse to keep you from moving forward.  Walk on!

To believe despite what we see is real hope.  Reality goes beyond what we see before us.  Despair and optimism are really just two sides of the same desire to control certain realities.  We can not control some realities.  But other realities reside in our head, in how we choose to shape them.  The attitudes we express, especially to things outside our control, is how indeed we are part of shaping their reality.  This co-shaping of reality is life that is truly life!

Our story is wrapped into a bigger story.  We can’t eject ourselves from the bigger plot-line.  We were born into it.  It is part of us.  We must learn to embrace it.  Own it.  Own that we are intertwined with a whole lot of things we did not decide.  In doing so we can free ourselves from the need to be original and instead find our rightful place in The Story.  Our belief in it is not a fantasy, it is harbiner of reality.

Life is full of cyclical patterns, which it turns out is great for storytelling (think chapter breaks, episode cliff-hangers, etc.).  We need cycles, otherwise life is simply too overwhelming.  Cycles make hard things endurable.  And patterns give us those page breaks and chapter endings we need to sort things out.  That building of anticipation and unknown is one of the best things about life.  Don’t try to squelch that with control.  Enjoy it instead!  Immensely.

We are all connected.  Intricately woven together.  But when we get focused on someone’s random version of success we miss that. We end up looking for validation where it can not ultimately be given.  You have what you need, and the connections you need will come.  Trust that.  Trust your path to get you there. It will!

Artists need communities.  We need others who know the isolation required to create.  We need others who know how to explore their scars and turn them into something beautiful.  We need the consistent encouragement that what we are doing matters.  That it is part of a bigger plan, one written before the world began.  And, if such things are possible, that we are actually invited to be a meaningful part of that creative plan.  Whoa!     

A Storm is coming. One that will break apart what we think we know. One that will reduce us to our core, unique self. Let go. But hold on. Hold onto the real thing. Hold onto the thing that is revealed by the storm. That is the whole point of the storm after all. And release the seeds that remain. Free them into the world. Loose them to become the tiny installments of hope they are. This is the army of light.

We do not get to nor do we need to hear the entire symphony to play our part.  In this way life feels like a cosmic waiting room, a trial for the real event.  But in the act of dying to ourselves we get through the door and into the real adventure.  Hold on tight.  You really are part of a celestial, even eternal song.  The deep completion you seek is found in the reverberating notes of life you alone can play!

Security must go if we are to really grab ahold of what is coming.  When we take our moment that is all we can do. There is nothing else.  Trust life.  Trust that you are here because God knew you needed to be here.  You have a purpose.  And fulfilling that purpose is the most important thing there is.

Arriving eventually is inevitable, if you keep going. You will finally get where you are going. But the final part of the journey comes with its own unique fears and challenges. Still it is inevitable to happen if you keep going, and will produce such good fruit you can hardly yet imagine. It will be worth it! Trust that the process is actually leading you somewhere very good.