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Embrace the Within

Focusing inward to create the abundant life God wants.

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  • Dec 28, 2021
  • 3 min read

Updated: Dec 29, 2021

What challenges will I face?

Embrace the Hero Within

Now that you have accepted the Call, the time arrives to depart the world of your routine, the world of comfort, the world of normalcy and embark on the journey. You will face experiences with the purpose of transformation. These experiences will consist of trials, tests, tasks, or challenges. Do not be concerned about winning or passing all of these obstacles. You will experience failure as well.

The obstacles and challenges will also become increasingly difficult as your journey continues. Take comfort in knowing the Road of Trials is necessary for you to grow and learn. It is not simply about winning or defeating every problem. The journey is a learning process, a time for growth and reflection. Persevere through the trials as they create a person worthy of the Ultimate Boon.

Bilbo’s trials increased as he and his party journeyed to face Smaug, Frodo’s challenges steadily got more difficult as he and Sam traveled to Mount Doom, and Amari’s life was more and more difficult as she searched for Fort Mose, Anakin, Luke, and Rey all faced ever increasingly difficult lessons as they grew in their power and understanding of the Force. All of them faced problems that the original character would find insurmountable. All of them grow in the process of trial and error. All of them kept travelling the journey and putting in the work no matter the challenge faced. All of them were making themselves ready to achieve the Ultimate Boon.

You and I will face problems that the person we once were could not handle. That is a process of us working the path of trial and error and making better choices. I am not going to become a better gardener if I just read books about gardening. I am not going to get into shape by just watching videos about fitness. I am not going to be healthy if I just learn about healthy diets. Eventually, I am going to have to implement the action to create the change. And sometimes the work doesn’t get me where I want to go. Sometimes the path is not the correct path. Sometimes the choice is the wrong choice. And that is the beauty of the process, the journey, the idea that you get to make mistakes and then change direction. There are many obstacles to face in your journey and many course corrections to make BUT you can’t make those corrections or move to your destination if you do not start moving, if you don’t start acting.

So, what challenges will you face? In church there is this saying, “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” And that is exactly the kind of mindset I am talking about needing to start and continue your journey. And the journey, the change, the mistakes, the learning, all of these things along the Road of Trials are what qualifies you and I for the Ultimate Boon. The challenges are unique to you and your call. I cannot say what your trials and obstacles and challenges will be. BUT I can guarantee that they will change you, they will qualify you for your calling. And that is the most important part of the journey. Not the trials, not the obstacles, not the challenges BUT the ability to continue along your journey and learning. Continuing to learn and change until you get your Ultimate Boon.

So when things look ever more difficult, when things are trying your resolve, when life is throwing more obstacles then you can overcome, then know that you are not expected to always make the right choices. You are not always expected to be ready BUT you are expected to change. Keep transforming into the you that you are meant to be.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

  • Dec 26, 2021
  • 3 min read

How do I start my journey?

Embrace the Hero Within.

Once you’ve accepted the call, probably the most difficult part of embracing your inner hero, the journey can commence. We begin our adventure by leaving our world of routine and comfortability to venture into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are unknown. As you begin to embrace the hero within, you finally accept the call and begin a physical, spiritual, and/or emotional journey to achieve a boon, something that is helpful or beneficial. Now that you’ve answered the call. You can put in the work to achieve the Ultimate Boon. Whatever this goal, it is yours as long as you listen to the call and embrace the adventure.

I want to talk about the Ultimate Boon because it sometimes gets overlooked or taken for granted as the natural end to the Hero’s Journey. The Ultimate Boon is usually a physical object to which is also attached a code of conduct or moral that the hero must learn. But what we sometimes fail to consider about the Ultimate Boon is that the hero must incorporate this lesson into his or her life.

This is the point I think is often overlooked and understated. As you begin your journey, remember that you will learn something new and important, however, it is a knowledge not for you alone. You need to incorporate that knowledge, that boon, into your life so that others might see that truth, that knowledge, that self in you. Do not worry about how you are going to achieve that part of the journey right now. Instead, focus on the adventure and the transformation that awaits you as you begin your adventure.

Bilbo chased down the party with his signed contract in hand, Frodo sets off with a ring and his friends, and Amari travels across the Atlantic Ocean in a slave ship. Anakin, Luke, and Rey board space ships to begin their adventure. All leave behind the known world of safety and comfort and find themselves in a very different place. You may not run after an adventure, enter into enslavement, or travel through the stars, however, your journey will also lead you away from what comforts you. This may be moving out of your childhood home and into a home of your own. This may involve you finding a new profession or a new hobby that allows you to grow into the person you choose. This may involve a new philosophy or faith that moves you away from the beliefs you once held. There are many ways to begin your adventure and none are comfortable. All involve making a choice to change. And true courage for the hero is choosing to leave the comfort, the familiarity, the routine behind and embracing the hero within.

The first step in embracing your own heroism is accepting the change. Your normal routine needs disruption. Every person has the choice of remaining the same and ignoring the call. Every person has the choice of embracing the change and answering the call. This is the option of the hero. All it takes is a little faith. Faith in yourself, faith in the journey, faith in the Ultimate Boon.

Say yes to the disruption? Say yes to the change?

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

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