Enthusiasm is an attractive trait. It draws people in and creates energy. Enthusiasm is connected with youth and for that reason, is sometimes seen as naïve or immature. But without enthusiasm nothing great happens.

Children are naturally enthusiastic. That desire to run, to greet each day with hope, is what keeps us alive and energized. It’s the bedrock of happiness, and its something we should take care not to lose as we grow into maturity. (Watch video)

This video gives us is something to think about. What causes us to slow down and lose our childlike excitement for life?

God’s Power Within

How do you maintain enthusiasm when the world seems so messed up?

This is a good question, bearing in mind the tragic events of last week. It is probably easier to lose hope then to keep enthusiasm, unless you understand where your enthusiasm comes from and how to grow it, in a world that encourages cynicism.

The root of the word “enthusiastic” is Greek. It comes from two words: the first is Theos, which means God and the second is En-tae or within. So the early use of this word by the Greeks literally meant God within you. Understanding this, we can see why it’s essential to hang on to enthusiasm no matter what.

Enthusiasm means the Divine Being who is the creator of love, truth, beauty, and goodness is at the heart of the individual whose vision mirrors these qualities. It is God in us that kindles the fire and the enthusiasm for real life and real love. Enthusiasm isn’t naïve but mirrors the innocence of God’s own pure heart for all that is good, true and beautiful. Being enthusiastic is something to cultivate!

Stretching Our Hearts

It is easy in moments of crisis or when we see the worst in ourselves or others to lose hope and enthusiasm for life and our dreams. No-one has a right to experience such emotions more than God, our Heavenly Parent, who watched the world tumble into a darkness His innocent heart could never have imagined or anticipated. But God is a big God. His love has motivated Him to straddle divides He did not create.

We are called to be big people too, so that God’s dreams and our own enthusiasm do not die out. This past week, Former President, George Bush, reminded the nation where our hope comes from and encouraged people not to succumb to fear or division but rather embrace our destiny in a “unity of hope.”

“None of us were prepared, or could be prepared, for an ambush by hatred and malice. The shock of this evil still has not faded. At times, it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates too quickly into dehumanization.

Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose. But Americans, I think, have a great advantage. To renew our unity, we only need to remember our values.

We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the spirit, by shared commitments to common ideals.

At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others. This is the bridge across our nation’s deepest divisions.

And it is not merely a matter of tolerance, but of learning from the struggles and stories of our fellow citizens and finding our better selves in the process.

At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are brothers and sisters, sharing the same brief moment on Earth and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity.

At our best, we know we have one country, one future, one destiny. We do not want the unity of grief, nor do we want the unity of fear. We want the unity of hope, affection and high purpose.

We know that the kind of just, humane country we want to build, that we have seen in our best dreams, is made possible when men and women in uniform stand guard. At their best, when they’re trained and trusted and accountable, they free us from fear.

The Apostle Paul said, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of strength and love and self-control.” Those are the best responses to fear in the life of our country and they’re the code of the peace officer.”

Enthusiasm must be fed

As children our hearts are full of expectation. The young have less of a filter on life and so it’s natural for their heart of enthusiasm to spill over, but what about us? To be naturally enthusiastic (I’m not talking about hyped-up emotionalism) you need to be experiencing God within on a continual basis. That is the key to maintaining enthusiasm.

We were reminded of this last week, when I watched a message from Joel Olsteen. He asked a very important question: how have you changed in the last five years? Are you different today than you were five years ago?

That is a very confronting question! How am I more loving, truthful, beautiful, and good? When you get down to the details and can answer affirmatively, a natural enthusiasm will rise inside you.

When you talk to long-time members of any community about their life of faith they will often reflect back to 20 or more years ago when they had a certain experience that touched them profoundly. Now, I don’t want to minimize the importance of such experiences but I do want to emphasize that you need profound experiences on an on-going basis. Enthusiasm is born of people who are constantly learning and growing – whose enthusiasm for life grows larger because their relationship with God is growing deeper. They can say that “God within” is more present.

We can learn from each other

The best way to learn is to learn naturally by observing and being moved by those around you. This is why the family is sacred and so important to God.

Families were designed to be a school of love. Through the family we can inherit the four realms of heart: children’s love, sibling love, conjugal love and parent’s love. It is in these relationships we can perfect our love.

Ultimately, the world is our extended family and we can learn from those we have the good fortune to meet in our lifetime. We are blessed to have met each other.

I personally learned a great deal from Father Moon. Just watching his lifestyle opened up possibilities for me to become a better, more loving person. His life was characterized by gigantic enthusiasm and optimism for God and humanity. I never met anyone who was more enthusiastic about life!

I remember one Sunday morning sitting in the front row, listening to a sermon. He poured out his heart for God’s suffering and the suffering of humanity. I could see the beads of sweat glistening on his forehead as he spoke; a testament to the intensity of his emotional commitment to the message.

At the conclusion of the message he asked us to raise our hands if we would commit to helping God. We raised our hands. I don’t remember the specifics of the goal Father Moon put forth; I only remember thinking “Wow, that’s a really big goal.” In contradiction to my raised arms, I was confronted by my own skepticism as to whether we could realistically achieve the goal.

But as I looked at Father Moon’s face, I saw a heart of innocence and pure enthusiasm. He smiled. It struck me deeply. He received our response and completely believed in us. I realized that he was mirroring God’s heart for us. God believes in us completely.

God can maintain His enthusiasm no matter what because He looks for our goodness, truth and beauty, and in those spaces in our hearts He finds room to fit within us.

Inviting God’s spirit within

This week I have been reading “The Spirit Contemporary: Unleashing the Miraculous in Your Everyday World” by Leon Fontaine. I picked it up browsing in a bookstore.

It intrigued me because it describes the journey of the son of a pastor to try and figure out how to make God real in his everyday life. As a first responder, he wanted to see God work outside the four walls of the church. He actually appreciated praise and worship and the Christian experience but he realized that for most people Christian language was isolating and off putting.

It seemed to him that we have a created a church that in some ways is in contradiction to the lifestyle of Jesus, the person it was fashioned after. Jesus ministered to anybody, regardless of ethnicity or social status. He was not a Sabbath only kind of a guy but had a 24/7 consciousness when it came to teaching. Leon understood that what matters most is if the spirit of God can dwell within you and work miracles through you.

When he came to that realization his enthusiasm for his faith was rekindled and he found that God could indeed work miracles through him. His conviction is that God can work miracles through anyone who is willing. But first we have to get ourselves out of the way.

Leon challenges people to drop the concepts they have that get in the way of a relationship with God. When he is challenging a man-made religious belief or tradition that gets in the way of real faith he likes to call it a Holy Cow. Many times those beliefs become so ingrained in people that they loom larger than life, are no longer even questioned, and are harmful and limiting.

Holy Cow!

He recommends letting go of the Holy Cow of the “Way we have always done it” and instead allow the Holy Spirit to “guide you into truth.” He gave a few examples, one of which made me laugh as it was close to home.

He told the story of his church that held onto certain traditions such as the person giving the sermon needing to wear a suit. But as he stood at the lectern and looked out at the audience he realized that everyone listening to him was wearing jeans! He wondered what barriers he was putting between himself and the members of the congregation by not being more contemporary in his dress – what message was he sending? Something to think about!

Leon went on to address an even more important assumption we carry. Many of us have an ingrained image of an angry, vengeful God. We are afraid of retribution for every mistake we have ever made.  We need to let go of that “holy cow” and embrace Grace. Receiving grace means allowing God within.

If we believe that God is dwelling inside of us, guiding us and wanting to do great things together with us, then everyday can be greeted with enthusiasm. Each day is a day to learn; a day to allow the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all truth.” You can know things you never knew!

Every single day holds new possibilities. Then instead of each day taking you closer to old age, every day takes you on a journey into God’s heart. Some days are darker than others, for the world is still struggling, but every day can be filled with hope and is a day with God!

Making everything new

A life of enthusiasm calls us to be future focused; focused on God’s promises to us like the promise in Revelations 21:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”.…. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”

On July 13, 2003 Father Moon said that we entered the age of Grace and Love. Our job is to:

“Remove whatever is fallen, we have entered the great transition to a new world centering on God, in which God governs according to the ideal of creation.”

We can live with enthusiasm to make everything new! Use this next 40 days to think about how you might become new – what could you change? What could you become? Through our transformation we can, together with God, build a new heaven and a new earth.