Eileen's Blog - Part 6: Be On The Look-out For
God’s desire for you is to be on the look out for your life adventure. Like the best kind of parent he wants you to receive, achieve and share the joy and pride of those discoveries with you.
Serendipity is a powerful force in life and living. I used to lead and manage a school and we found it invaluable. If we had an idea that would bring blessing to children, parents, the school, there were often people in authority telling me we couldn’t afford it, we didn’t have the human resources....the words “never be able to do that” used to come up. I have also met with people who felt their dreams couldn’t be realised- it can’t happen. I have decided to doubt the doubt.
The word “never” is a bit of a challenge for the kingdom. I’ve learnt to expect that the use of the word “never” in the context of longing, generally means whatever is being spoken about will definitely happen!
As we are part of God himself, (his isn’t just His Plan- it’s OUR plan- to overcome difficulties, hardships etc. with patience endurance and faith! And live in daily expectation of doing so – that is what hope is! In Hebrews 11 v1, faith is a confident assurance or conviction about future hopes, acting as a tangible foundation for them, even if they are not yet visible. This means we are on the look- out for good things and we are developing the habit of recognising that kingdom opportunity when it presents itself- in whatever form!
Serendipity describes a fortunate opportunity coupled with the ability to recognize its potential value. Every person made in the image of the Creator has this: the ability to create what is good and a blessing out of what is not apparently there!
Abraham, Paul said, called those things which are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17) By believing, against all appearances, that he could bring the invisible into the visible world. Think about that for a moment. It’s huge. He saw them in his mind’s eye. He named them. He was certain they were there in the invisible realm. They were not manifest in the physical world, but he was sure they would be!
Sometimes you hear people on TV these days talking about “manifesting” something: having enough certainty to believe what they want will come into being. This power is possible because we are made in the image of God, and that is how he works too.
In Genesis he spoke it out, and then admired what he’d created. “ He saw that it was good” is repeated multiple times at the beginning of Genesis; when he saw he had created humankind he was especially pleased and said it was “very good”! He used his imagination and spoke good things into life. We also have imagination and a voice; we too can create good things- ask, seek find, Jesus said. They are within our reach.
Faith, hope love and courage are some of the attitudes we grow in ourselves with the power of the Spirit inside us, building on our divine relationship and trusting we are loved. Others include: curiosity, openness to new experiences, positive emotions, and especially awareness, and readiness: readiness to find ways of transforming unexpected events into opportunities.
When you start to talk about what you want and need, in my experience, I find “suddenly” sooner or later unexpected things start to happen. People might say, “that was a co-incidence” or “that was lucky”! It starts with fostering and cultivating certain attitudes and expectations in the life of your mind. Others may try to contradict you but you keep looking out for what happens in the future!