It takes an enormous amount of faith and courage to step out into the bigger vision of your life.  I don’t know how many of us stop and consider what we’re on the planet for.

I had the opportunity, whilst away last week, to have a night out under the stars, in silence, fasting.  I watched the darkness descend and surveyed the shadows, listened to the bats squalking in the trees, the cold of the air and experience the uncertainty of just not knowing.  But then, as the night progressed, the darkness retreated, the bats grew silent and the birds heralded the dawn.

I reflected on what I REALLY want to do with my life and began to ask the question ‘what steps do I take here and now to move towards that bigger call.’  You see, we only have this present moment, now.  News of an impending (relatively routine) operation to have an organ removed has sharpened my focus and I’m thinking hey, I’ve got bigger things to live for.  I heard God speak my name to me again.

Leonard Cohen’s words came to me

“The birds they sing at the break of day,
‘Start again’ I hear them say.
Don’t dwell on what is passed away
or what is yet to be.”

As the sun started to fill the darkness of the night I sensed something of that new morning. I was reminded that it is what we do in the now that makes the path for the future.  When Jesus was compelled to go out into the dessert to face his demons, he found deep within him the path he must take, the way he must go, the life he must step into.  In a way, only solitude and silence can do that for us because its only then that we stifle our false self long enough to let God speak to our hearts.

The next challenge is when your big story currently bears little resemblance to your current reality.  Thats a bummer.  But today is the day of ‘salvation.’  Today we start to walk in the possibility of the Kingdom of God and it is today we need to hear him say ‘All things are possible with God.’

That God would give us all the courage of our convictions is my prayer.