Praying Made Easy. 9. Look Forward with Faith
Looking Forward with Faith
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Three months out of college, I had a chance to look forward with faith. I began my teaching career at Oak Ridge (NC) Military Academy. I was able to say with absolute confidence and truth: “This is going to be my best year teaching.” And it was—the best year I had ever had as a teacher.
My second year teaching was at Greensboro (NC) Day School. Two weeks before my new assignment, I called out my familiar mantra: This is going to be my best year teaching.
And it was. Better than every other year, which was only one, the one before.
I should have felt I was on a success roll. However, my third year and the next ten years, I taught in Westport, CT. As the late August start day approached, I recalled my affirmation. But when I said it, it felt flat. I let it fall flat. I surrounded “This is going to by my best year….” with numerous doubts.
It was only my third year so “best” didn’t mean so much. I wasn’t familiar with public school systems. I’d never lived north of Virginia, and I’d never been to Connecticut. I had trouble with my promise to look forward with faith.
By October I realized my doubts were preventing me from having my third best year in a row. The new teacher struggled. I doubted my lesson plans. My classes were too rigid for anyone to enjoy, including me. I was too defensive to trust my own ability or for the kids to trust my ability.
Then one weekend in October a good friend from North Carolina called. He met my hello with the immediate question, “So, are you having your third best year in a row?”
We talked. He was quick to remind me I’d had “best years” because I was faithful that I would. “Say it again. This time, mean it.”
As we enter 2018, we have the opportunity to give in to doubt about this year’s greatness. We can yield to the fear that the trials of 2017 will continue.
And we have the even greater opportunity to foresee this year as outstanding. Looking forward with faith for each of my 13 years teaching let me discover the truth. The truth that every year was better than the ones before. The truth that believing it was to be made it all the easier for me to turn can do into will do.
Consider please:
- What we believe, we experience.
- Faith in Spirit is faith in oneself.
- To ask is to wait; to affirm is to create.
Prayer to Look Forward with Faith
I recognize Spirit I am is truly Spirit.
That allows me to know that my faith is faith that I AM.
Faith that I AM is faith that I can be, can do, can achieve
whatever I want, for I am co-creator with Spirit.
Although time is without meaning except in our daily lives,
our human work and play, we celebrate the opportunity
to refresh our look ahead, our faith
as we enter the new year.
We can look forward with faith in the eternal Good
that Spirit is and so are we.
And so it is. And so we let it be–with faith.
Amen.
Love and blessings,
3 January 2018
In: Affirmation, Faith, Inner Peace, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: Affirmations, Faith, praying
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