A couple of months ago, Matt and I decided that we needed an exit strategy for our business. One day, we will want to retire and what will we do with all of our dear clients and business when we do? It’s not something you tend to think about when you start your own business, but I’m sure it’s something we’ll think a lot about in 25 years time.
Anyway, we decided to go and speak with some financial advisors whom we had met at a meeting where they spoke on the subject. We didn’t know them well, they hadn’t been referred to us, but they seemed competent and knowledgeable.
Our first meeting did not go well, and it unfortunately devolved from there, landing us in the meeting we had yesterday where they presented us with their plan for our future. It involved a lengthy lecture about making more money and a bleak picture of our future without it. (For the record, our business is great and we love what we do, but it isn’t making the 5 million dollars they think that it should) So, they decided NOT to build our financial plan on the money that we actually have and make, but rather on the money they think we need make.
They didn’t listen to us, they didn’t value us where we are, and their plan is absolutely useless as a result. I looked at their numbers with what I’m sure was a look of complete ridicule. They have our bills, all of our financial information and none of it had been taken into consideration. Let’s just say, the plan was completely impossible and impractical… and hope crushing.
So why am I telling this story? Because if your mind can’t see the picture of hope as a genuine goal in front of you, it immediately disassociates from that picture. If you don’t believe it’s even possible, then you will never have the seed of faith to plant which becomes the foundation for hope.
By not considering our current situation other than to lecture us, the gentlemen erased our belief that they were relevant or knowledgeable, and their advice became ridiculous rather than something to hope for.
So here is the process… Faith plants a seed, but that faith must be based on something real: a conviction, a belief, a certainty that the hope can be realized. Without that solid kernel at the core of your hope, there is nothing for your heart to cling to. For us, the kernel should have been a realistic plan that we could see being implemented today… rather than just when we make more money. Our belief that the plan was viable was absolutely critical to us taking it and implementing it and having a hopeful outlook with it.
Faith must be based on something real: a conviction, a belief, a certainty that the hope can be realized.But there is a broader application for this story and that’s why I wanted to share it. If you are having difficulty finding your hope, I want to challenge you, what is the seed of faith that you have anchoring your hope? If you don’t have one, the chances are, you may have misguided hope or none at all.
If you do have a seed it might be…
* The faithfulness of God
* God’s great ability to work all things for good and for His glory
* The promise God has given you concerning your specific situation
You have to go back to your seed kernel of faith and remind yourself of what you believe and let that be the seed for your hope.
For our “financial advisors”, they needed to adjust their picture of our future to the reality of our kernel. We will not retire as mulit-multi millionaires based on our current income, but we’re okay with that. For Matt and I, we are more hopeful focusing on what we can actually achieve rather than what we can never achieve. In fact, as the picture of hope for our future comes in line with the kernel of what we know to be true, our hope grows because our faith grows that it can actually come to pass.
My example may seem like I’m talking about diminishing, but for Matt and I, it isn’t really diminishing, because the advisor’s goals were never our goals in the first place, and they weren’t based on anything real.
It’s your reality meeting God’s faithfulness and goodness that creates the big picture.Many times we do the same thing with our hope in what God is promising: we don’t consider His plan realistic because we have our own agenda based on what we want for our lives rather than what He wants for our lives. Unlike my financial advisors, God not only considers exactly where you are, He does more than that… He considers His involvement with where you are. It’s your reality meeting His faithfulness and goodness that creates the big picture. We have to consider the seed of his faithfulness or we will end up having no hope at all… not a realistic hope, or an unrealistic hope, just despair.
Hope paints a picture of the future from the place of faith.What is the seed that you are believing today?
Is it coupled with what God can do or has promised to do?
Don’t consider the impossible without a seed of faith or you will lose hope. Faith doesn’t come from considering the future. Faith comes from what we know to be true, and then hope paints a picture of the future from the place of faith. You just can’t do it in the reverse. If you don’t know God’s faithfulness and love for you, then start by learning about that and coming to a place of belief and then let God paint His picture for your life based on that seed.
If you’ve lost your hope today, go back to the seed. Go back to what you know to be true about God, and remember His faithfulness and that He created you for a wonderful hope and calling. He knows exactly where you are right now, and He knows what He is going to do in your situation. You won’t find your hope from considering the impossible…
You’ll find it in the seeds of faith.
