The Seed of Hope

Away from the darkness...

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Even as I was working on last Monday’s post about coincidences I was formulating ideas for this week’s topic. And I have to tell you, I was really excited about it! It was going to be about a men’s retreat, given by one of our local churches, that I attended a couple of weeks ago.

My intention was to share some of my retreat “experience” with you, and perhaps more importantly, tell you how I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit with me since that weekend. I thought, “This is Holy Week. With all the focus in the Bible on Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit during His last days, what better time to share the amazing amount of comfort, strength, and empowerment that I have been blessed with during the past two weeks.”

One of my favorite sayings is that “Life often gets in the way of our best intentions.” Think about that one for a minute……How many times have you meant to do something, like going to see a friend that is sick, or sitting down to write a thank you note? How about something that would improve the quality of your own life, like going to the gym, or sticking to that diet, or going to church regularly? You really meant to do those things, didn’t you? It may have been your intention to do those things, but for some reason or another, they never got done. And look, I’m not throwing stones at you; I’ve been guilty of all of the above at some time. Like I said, sometimes life just gets in the way….

From gladness to gloom.

This week, my week, which began with so much promise, so much joy, so much passion for God, and so much gratefulness for Jackie and for my family and my friends and my business and who I am and my purpose in life, and EVERYTHING turned out to be one of the most difficult weeks that I’ve had in a long time.

Every time I sat down to work on this post there was a distraction. There were computer problems in the salon, and a seemingly endless stream of people that work for us with some gripe to tell me about. Time management, usually one of my assets, mysteriously disappeared. I received some amazing, humbling, inspiring e-mails and couldn’t find time to respond to them, which made matters worse. I lost my temper at a team meeting. I lost my temper at home; Jackie and I got into a couple of disagreements over nothing. Life was everything but normal.

What made matters worse is that I was aware that I was in a funk, a downward spiral, a deep hole….during those moments when I was losing my temper, I was aware of it. I knew that I was overreacting to situations, taking things personally, and showing my derriere. I was aware of what I was doing, knew that I shouldn’t be doing it, but did it anyway. I seemingly had no control over my actions.

I think that this is a perfect time to tell you about one of my morning rituals.

Each day I get up at least 30 minutes before Jackie and head to my sanctuary, our kitchen. I take a seat in my favorite chair, my “prayer chair”, and spend those 30 minutes in prayer and reflection. I’ve followed this routine, sat in my prayer chair, since November of 2006. I’d like to spend more time talking about my chair, but I believe that it deserves a post of its own, so for now I’ll simply say that I found my salvation sitting in this chair! (I’m sitting in it at this very moment.) But this week, not even time in my prayer chair was able to turn things around for me.

Last night I lay in bed reflecting on the past few days, and came to the startling realization that I, Sam Maniscalco, Mr. Awesome Everyday, soldier of Christ, messenger of God, was without that which I try to convey to you through this site: Hope. I drifted off to sleep in prayer, asking God to help me find me.

HE answered….

As soon as I woke up this morning, before I even had time to thank God for giving me another day, I knew what had been wrong with me this week. Before I give you the answer, I’ll ask you to step outside the box of conventional ways of thinking for a minute…

In Life’s Energy, a post dated February 23^rd, I offered my belief that the closer we get to doing God’s work and to doing His will, the more Satan does to stop us dead in our tracks. I believe that witnessing to others about God and His goodness makes Satan, well, it makes him mad as hell. Be it through the bible, or church, or pastors, priests, preachers, ministers, deacons, and just plain folks like me…..every time a person takes a step towards the light of God he is taking a step away from the darkness. You think that sits well with Satan? Do you think that he is gonna sit there and watch me or anyone else try to thin his ranks? Do I have to answer either of those questions for you?

Satan came after me this week. During what it is the most important time of the year for me, as a Christian….during a time when my eyes should have been fixed firmly upon Christ on the Cross…..when I have been filled by the Holy Spirit, more ready than ever to proclaim the wonders of Christ and the miracles He has worked in my life…..when I had numerous opportunities daily to let His light shine through me, to be His soldier….I was distracted by Satan. He came after me this week, and he took me off course. But it was short lived.

Okay, this is the part where you’re going to think that I’ve lost it, but like I’ve said before, I’m not here to win a popularity contest; I just tell you what is in my heart and mind, what I believe to be true…..

This morning, I was so aware of Satan’s presence that I said a quick prayer asking God to protect Jackie and me from evil, then got out of bed, went straight to the bathroom, and spit the taste of the devil out of my mouth. Then I got back in the bed and continued with my gratitude list.

You can laugh or shake your head in disbelief if you want to; I probably would’ve done either or both a few years ago. But I’ll tell you this: almost immediately, I could feel that calmness and peace that I’ve become accustomed to replace the feelings of anxiety and darkness that have been with me this week.

Today has been an awesome day. Jackie has been in her sanctuary, our back yard, doing what she enjoys the most; landscaping. I have been doing one of the things that I enjoy most, which is writing for The Seed of Hope. We’ll go out to dinner tonight, and then return home to watch a movie, which just happens to be Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. We’ve had the DVD since it was released, but for some reason have never watched it. Actually, I know the reason….I wasn’t supposed to watch this movie until my eyes and heart were ready to truly see and feel what Christ endured for you and me.

We’ll go to church tomorrow morning celebrating the glory of the Risen Christ!

Have a Blessed and Joyful Easter!

Contact me: sam@theseedofhope.com

Faith and Hope

I was watching the national evening news on one of the major networks a couple of weeks ago, and there was a segment devoted to a poll that had been taken in a small town in Ohio. I can’t remember the name of the town, and I mean no offense, but in regards to this post it really doesn’t matter; it could have been Anywhere, USA. And while I may be a little fuzzy on the particulars (Jackie and I were preparing supper at the time), I am able to recall the essence of the story.

The multiple-choice question posed to the people of this town was short and to the point:

Compared to this time last year, do you believe that the state of the economy is:

A.     Better

B.      Worse

C.      About the same

Eight percent of the respondents believed the economy to be better than it was a year ago. Incredulous that anyone, in any town, believed the economy to be better than it was last year, this network decided to do a feature story, not on the town, but on one of the eight percent!

The opening shot was that of a modest home in a quiet neighbor, and the camera lens honed in on a small white sign that was posted in one of the windows. The sign quite simply read 8%.

The next scene was in the kitchen of this home, and its owner, a gentleman, I don’t know, maybe in his fifties, was seated at the table being interviewed by the network’s field reporter. At some point in the interview, the following question was asked:

“How can you possibly believe that the state of the economy is better today than it was a year ago?”

I stopped what I was doing because I had to hear this guy’s answer. I mean, I walk with God, and my faith is strong, and I’m the eternal optimist, but come on…..this guy had to be nuts!

This average looking Joe, in an average little home, in an average little neighborhood, calmly looks into the camera and says:

“Hope means that you want something to happen. Faith means that you know it’s going to happen.”

I stood dumbfounded for a moment, as I processed his affirmation. It was so simple, yet so profound. For the rest of the evening I reflected on what this stranger had said and its impact on me. I went to sleep thinking about the notions of hope and faith, and their influence on people’s lives. Which led me to my own questions?

Is it possible to have faith with no hope?

Is it possible to have hope with no faith?

Before this question, let me offer you some thoughts that are bouncing around in this noggin’….

During the first 53 years of my life I knew who God was, had faith in Him, and turned to Him in times of need. I attended church regularly and prayed regularly (though not nearly enough). I believed God to be the creator of all things. If you’ve ever heard, read, or recited the Apostle’s Creed (or Nicene Creed in some churches), I held all of its affirmations to be true. I accepted the existence of The Holy Trinity, though I must admit that as a teenager, there were a few times when I tried to figure out how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could be One. I believed in heaven, feared the devil, and tried to do what I thought God wanted me to do. All signs of faith. All consistent with conventional definitions of faith, right?

Yet I had no hope. No hope that things would be better. No hope that things could be better. How could this be? How could faith not be accompanied by hope? How could faith on a Sunday not be accompanied by hope for Monday?

The answer lies in the simple fact that my faith was based on what I’d been taught about God in religion class, what I had read about God in books, and what I had been told about God by my parents.

I knew who God was, but I didn’t know God. You may be wondering “What’s the difference?” Let me offer you an analogy…..I remember the first time that I stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon, overcome with emotion at the spectacle of God’s handiwork. I was so overwhelmed, that for several minutes I could do nothing more than take in the beauty of what my eyes saw as tears streamed down my face, while my mind feebly attempted to process what I was seeing as my heart attempted to handle the explosion of emotion in what I felt. I had wanted to see the Grand Canyon all of my life; I’d read about it, seen movies about it, and studied pictures of it. Yet none of those things prepared me for the experience.

I can “mentally” paint a picture of what I saw and convey the emotions of what I felt that day to you, but until you actually stand at the rim of that canyon and experience it for yourself, you will never feel what I did.

What I’m trying to tell you is this:

On November 5, 2006 I asked Christ to take my hand and lead me to wherever I was supposed to go, to help me to do what I was supposed to do, and to be whatever I was supposed to be. I invited Him in. And on that day, for the first time in my life, I truly felt the presence of God. And you know what? Neither the religion classes, or the books, or my parents had truly prepared me for the moment. I don’t know that any one or any thing could have.

God has been with me, been a part of my consciousness, every day since. Along the way there have been a many of those “Grand Canyon” moments, feeling God in my life in different ways, and feeling Him work through me each day. I’ve learned oh so much about Him, and I know that there is so much more to learn, so much more than I will probably ever learn. Much like the Holy Trinity, I don’t try to figure out the mysteries of God, or why He does what he does. I just know… I have faith, that He will provide me with what I need, and I’ll gratefully and humbly accept what He provides.

Which brings me full circle, back to the topic of faith. As my “knowing” of Christ has grown, so has my faith. It is stronger than ever….unwavering, unbending, never ceasing.

My faith has allowed me to hope, to dream about things. Curiously enough, I don’t really hope for anything for me personally. God will give me what I need.

My hope is that all who don’t ‘know’ God, or walk with faith, or dare to even hope for more will seek Him out and receive His goodness. My dream is that The Seed of Hope will help those that are seeking Him to find their way.

Once more, I pose these questions to you:

Is it possible to have faith with no hope?

Is it possible to have hope with no faith?

God is good.

Contact me: sam@theseedofhope.com

The Prayer of Jabez

Oh that You would bless me indeed

And enlarge my territory

That Your hand would be with me

          And that You would keep me from evil

That I may not cause pain.

1 Chronicles 4:10

In November of 2006, not long after my epiphany (see My Epiphany, Nov. 24^th, 2008) I began saying this prayer every morning. I hadn’t quite memorized it, and I didn’t want be distracted from the prayer’s intent while trying to remember the words, so I printed a copy of it and taped it on the mirror in our bathroom (it’s still there).

It is said that if you do something for twenty-one straight days it becomes a habit. I wanted my daily recital of this prayer to become as commonplace for me as brushing my teeth. Let me clarify that last statement: I wanted the act of saying the prayer to be commonplace, not the prayer itself. I try my best to make every prayer that I offer to God sincere and heartfelt, but I’ll confess that there are those times when I am a bit distracted by life.

I don’t know exactly why I began saying The Prayer of Jabez; I just felt that it was something I needed to do. I don’t know that I had a specific intention in offering the prayer every morning….I just felt that I hadn’t lived up to my expectations, (or God’s) in the first 54 years that I’d spent trying to find my “purpose” in life, and I needed to find out what it was.

So I began saying this prayer each day, not really knowing what I was asking God for, and not really caring what He gave me. I believed that He had something more in store for me, and I was asking for it through this prayer….I wanted more out of life….

Don’t get me wrong….like I’ve told you before, it’s not that my life was that bad. In fact, my personal life was  blessed. I was married to my best friend, Jackie; she is an amazing lady, and for the past 20 years she has been my rock. I have been, and continue to be, blessed by her presence. We had a great family, home, business, and money in the bank (a lot less after this past year). I guess that in the eyes of many I “had it made”, and in some ways, I did. But in other ways….

Unfulfilled, Angry, Lonely, Miserable

On any given day you could have used one or more of those words to describe me! It’s true; in the realm of business, and of what I had done in life, I was all of the above. I believe that many people in the world today measure a man’s success by financial wealth, titles, accolades, and accomplishments in the business world. There is nothing really wrong with using one, or all of the above as a yardstick.

I’d like to make a few of additions to that list:

I believe you can also measure a man’s success by the smile on his face, the peace in his mind, and the joy in his heart.

For all that I had in life, what I didn’t have was those three things. Never had. I didn’t know what it would take to make me happy….all I knew was that something was missing. Satisfaction, when it came, was short lived and fleeting. Material things, possessions, didn’t matter. Enough was never enough.

My hope was that through the Prayer of Jabez, God would lead me, show me, help me find, allow me to see, whatever it was that had been missing all my life.

God answered my prayer….

Since I began offering my prayer some 25 months ago God has blessed me with oh so much. Yeah, yeah, our business has soared to amazing heights, and continues to grow, against all odds, amidst our nation’s economic woes….a blessing indeed, but that’s not what I’m talking about…..

What had been missing all my life was a true, meaningful, relationship with God. I’m not talking about “religion”, or going to church on Sunday, or reading the Bible from front to back…..all of these are good things, but they don’t really make you truly aware of God’s presence in you. I think that you have to find, feel, and experience that presence on your own.

I believe that saying the Prayer of Jabez every morning opened my mind and heart to a new way of walking with God each day….believing in Him, trusting Him, allowing Him to be a part of me, and myself to be a part of Him. From that grew an explosion of spiritual growth that continues to amaze and humble me every day. And from that grew a new way of looking at life, people, and myself. And from that grew an insatiable desire to help others in any way I can, in thought word, or deed. It was from this burning desire that The Seed of Hope was born.

Gandhi wrote “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” I guess I’ve always had this desire to make a difference in the world, a desire to leave it a better place than the way I found it. Perhaps we all have that desire….I don’t know….I can only speak for myself.

What I’ve come to realize in the last couple of years is that in life, it’s not just about the destination, it’s about the journey. My journey through life has become so unbelievably satisfying, so rewarding, so comfortable…..I believe that God has allowed me to experience this so that I may share it with others. What I have, I humbly share with you….

I still say the prayer of Jabez every morning, and still with no particular intention in mind. You see, I don’t want to put limitations on what God has planned for me. What He has allowed me to see and to have is beyond anything I could have dreamed for myself!

And that “measure of success” thing?

The smile on my face is real, peace soothes my mind, and the joy that fills my heart cannot be conveyed in words.

God is good.

Contact me: sam@theseedofhope.com