Ceremonies
There are so many ceremonies we attend in our lifetime – weddings, funerals, graduations, baptisms, appointments, etc. The list goes on and on.
Having attended more than I can count, the memorable ones seem to share a common thread. The speaker or presenter takes the ceremony out of the ceremony. They make a pretty vanilla event into something that people can connect with on a human as well as a spiritual level.
Such was the case last night. My grandson celebrated his Confirmation. The meaning of Confirmation has changed in my lifetime from being “Soldiers of Christ” to metaphorically affixing your signature and giving approval to the decisions your parents made for you at Baptism.
The bishop who was presiding at the event stepped out of character and reached out and touched the Confirmation candidates where they live. He said, “I wonder how many of you have said, ‘this means I never have to go to church again.’ ” I wasn’t the only person who laughed aloud.
He reached past the rite and honed right in to where the receivers of his words live. It was unceremonial and quite effective in setting up his next point which was, “This is not an end but a new beginning for your commitment to your faith.”
This lead me to think of something The Grasshopper
communicated to me about 6 months ago:
“Faith is comprised of trust, not hope.”
When you have faith in something, hope is the antithesis of that which you have faith in. True faith is trusting that which you have faith in is in progress now. The minute you put hope in the mix, you have watered down your faith, and diminished your chances of fruition.
You have to trust someone or something for life to work its magic. People who are untrusting are more fearful than the average bear and stay within their cocoon. They live their life in the mind projected future which is the domain of hope.
I’ve quoted business consultant, Fernando Flores before regarding hope. He said:
“Hope is the raw material for losers.”
Trust is something that is with you now and builds confidence. Hope keeps you focused on the future and keeps the option of failure in the forefront of your mind.
This is not a lesson on positive thinking; nor is it about semantics. It’s an unceremonial way of looking at a concept that is a cornerstone of many peoples’ lives that just keeps them stuck.
Take the 7 day challenge and remove “hope” from your vocabulary and see if you sense a shift.
I grew up in Philadelphia, PA and there was a bank that used a slogan which underscores today’s blog post. The slogan was:
“Wishing won’t do it, saving will.”
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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