Are you audacious with your goals?
If you’re like most of us, you’ve taken on the common wisdom of not setting “unrealistic” goals. You look for something that already seems to be well within reach, something that doesn’t have much risk of failure.
In this season of Advent though, I want to challenge this idea of “realistic” goals.
Do we believe in a God who is “realistic”?
I would argue not.
Our God is a God who said, “Hey, I love those people so much. I want to save them. I’m going to become one of them and then die for them… and then I’m going to rise from the dead.”
But He didn’t stop there!
He also said, “And you know what, I’m going to arrange it so that they can participate in My death and Resurrection. They will die with Me, and rise with Me, and we will be one. When the Father looks at them, He will see Me.”
This is not the kind of dreaming we tend to do. This is the grand, extravagant, wild planning of a Divine Lover.
And this is why Advent is so special.
Advent marks the time that we prepare our hearts to receive this first gift, this first part of God’s audacious plan of salvation: the arrival of the Son of God as a precious little baby.
As we behold the Word made flesh, we encounter the profound mystery of our own human nature, that we are made in the image of God, that He made us to be creatures who co-create with Him, as the words of our thoughts are made flesh in the results that we create.
Advent is an invitation to enter into God’s grand, compelling vision for our life, to see what He sees, to stop trying to stay in control and only reach for things that seem possible, but start to truly believe that nothing is impossible for God.
“The alternative to praying for big things is to reduce what we’re dreaming of to something small enough that we think we can accomplish it on our own. This absolutely robs God of the chance to show us just how wonderful, powerful, creative and amazing He is.” (Opening Your Heart, Lisa Brenninkmeyer)
I’ll close with this story about Mother Angelica that I just love for so many reasons.
She was in the process of starting EWTN, and she needed a satellite, which cost $600,000. She didn’t have the money but just went ahead and ordered it, saying she’d pay on delivery.
The satellite finally arrived, but the money hadn’t. She prayed, and then a man called out of the blue to donate the exact amount needed.
Talk about providence!
What strikes me about this story is that she didn’t allow ideas of what was “realistic” to get in the way of just being obedient to God. She had utter trust that He would come through because this was all His plan.
And it paints such a beautiful picture of the amazing things that can happen when we honestly seek His will without putting any of our human limits on Him, when we courageously say yes and then trust Him to figure it all out.
What if we all approached our lives like that? What if God was just waiting to pour out miracles like that on us all the time? What if His plans for our life are far more audacious than you’ve ever dared to consider?
So I’d like to invite you to journal on this theme this Advent:
- What goals have I been putting off, not considering, resisting, pushing down, because I think they’re too audacious?
- What do I think is impossible right now?
- Do I really believe that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within me? That I have constant access to the power of impossible things? What would I go ahead and co-create with God in the world if I really believed this? How can I grow this belief?
And just watch what God does with these questions!
If you get stuck, book a call in the Academy or with one of the Metanoia Catholic-trained coaches! Helping people with this is what we do all day long.
