What Visionaries See - Fr. Mark Goring, CC

 

What Visionaries See - Fr. Mark Goring, CC

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I came into this world so that those who

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do not see may see and then we had the

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just heard the beautiful Gospel of The

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Prodigal Son the parable of the prodigal

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son and we have this son who did not see

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how good he had it in the father's house

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now one of the things I like to speak

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about is our identity who we are as

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children of God made in the image of God

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by a god of infinite

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love and today I want to look at one of

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the facets of who we are there's so many

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wonders to our being and it's kind of

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like uh you know we have a lot of us

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have our cell phones or smartphones how

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many of you use the flashlight on your

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phone occasionally yeah I see a lot of

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hands go up for me there was a while

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where like I didn't realize I had a

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flashlight on my phone I'd be kind of

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looking for something and wondering I

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need a flashlight I can't see and I real

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wait a minute I have a flashlight in my

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pocket my phone has has a flashlight you

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know and so so to we as human beings we

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have capabilities we have capacities we

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have powers if only we would realize

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them and we need to use them so what I

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want to speak about today is just the

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reality that as children of God made in

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the image of God we are meant to be

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Visionaries because we have a capacity

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to see we are seeing beings in heaven we

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will see God as he is scripture says

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we'll be become like him we will see

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this capacity to see is so important

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another way of putting we can say we're

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we're Visionaries because we have this

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capacity to see we can see but we can

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also say we're meant to be

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contemplatives a contemplative is

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someone who sees deeply and again this

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is a capacity we have this is this is

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something we're meant to to develop and

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Foster and and and realize in our lives

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this this called to be a contemplative

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to see deeply and I want to speak about

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three levels or the three dimensions of

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this capacity to see to be

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Visionaries first of all we need to be

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able to see what is present seeing the

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present what is right in front of us

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it's always a tragedy when you meet

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someone who's just got so many blessings

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and you know so so many gifts in their

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life and and and they're they're just

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kind of you know spoiled in so many ways

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and they don't see it oh they feel sorry

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for themselves and they're you know

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whatever not not happy about anything

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and you think to yourself like ah you

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have almost everything you have so much

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to be grateful for and you you're not

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happy like don't you see what you have

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or don't you see the the potential the

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the the the gifts you know whatever and

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and again as children of God we must be

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contemplatives we must see first of all

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just what is right in front of us and

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learn to Delight you know I mean I could

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give countless examples but one example

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is at least once a year and I should do

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this more often I like to take a little

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walk down to Spark Street and I love

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Spark Street and then you from Spark

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Street I can make my way to the

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Parliament Hill and maybe even further

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to the you know the cathedral in the

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market but oh I just I just find Ottawa

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such a wonderful City and to take a walk

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you know especially if it's you know

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nice weather a nice time of year it's

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like experiencing just a little ecstasy

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you know you just forget about all your

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worries and cares and you can just you

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can just marvel you just feed off of the

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the beauty the the Wonder the

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inspiration uh just taking a walk and

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this is just one example of many you

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know we have so many things that you

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know just are around us that we can

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enjoy another thing here in Ottawa is

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the beautiful Tulip Festival also in the

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experimental firm there's the wonderful

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flower gardens and all that again you

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can just as a Visionary as a person with

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a capacity to see at Deep levels you can

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just walk and be filled with wonder and

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who are the best at being filled with

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wonder it's children you know children

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they see things and they're just filled

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with awe and wonder and they're you know

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so happy seeing things well we're meant

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to be childlike to never lose that and

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so again it's so important for us to be

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able to see I'll give you one other

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example I remember years ago one of the

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priests in our community I think we

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might have been seminarians at the time

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he was visiting in Ottawa and we wanted

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to do something together we didn't know

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what to do so I think he I don't know

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what he kind of researched a bit he says

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hey there's an RV show in Ottawa you

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know those RVs the camper trailers you

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know the motor homes they had a show for

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those things this was again this was

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years ago I think it was called the

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Corell Center back then now is it called

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the Canadian Tire Center they changed

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the name every couple years whatever

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it's called now um so we went and

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neither of us were into these Campers or

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RVs we just thought well you know

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nothing better to do let's go I think we

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also had a coupon for the show but the

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point is is we just walked around maybe

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for hours and what was cool about this

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show is they let you go right into these

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things and I don't know if you've seen

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Campers or if you ever experienced it's

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just amazing what they pack into these

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Little Campers like just it it's

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wonderful you know some of them have

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leather couches and even fireplaces and

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you know all kinds of marvelous things

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and so you know we just kind of walked

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around in awe in Wonder and again this

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is something we can do as humans we can

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we can we can just look with Wonder we

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can see with Wonder at at the delightful

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things and you know more importantly

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whatever the the people around us the

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the realities around us we must see the

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deeper realities as contemplatives and

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Visionaries so again this we can do this

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and it's wonderful so first is seeing

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what is present the second thing we need

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to be able to see is we need to be able

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to see what is possible again we have

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this capacity Visionaries can see what

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is possible a simple example is a person

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a mountain climber who sees the peak of

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a mountain and says I could see myself

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on the top of that mountain I'm going to

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climb that mountain and he has this this

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vision and see the vision gives a drive

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it gives an energy and this is part of

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the human capacity which is mindboggling

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I like to read adventure books I've told

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you that before and I've read adventure

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books about people climbing mountains

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these guys are nuts they they'll be

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climbing and climbing they want to get

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to the top and they're starting to lose

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the tips of their fingers the frostbite

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they don't care they keep climbing

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amazing I remember also reading books

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about the gold prospectors back in the

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day of the kondik Gold Rush up in the

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Yukon again the some of them died just

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trying to get up to the Yukon to stake

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their claims so that they could get

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their gold and be rich but again the the

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capacity we have when we have a vision

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for something when we when we see what

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is possible it can drive us and it can

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carry us and and also you think of

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scientists wanting to make scientific

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dis discoveries you know find cures for

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diseases and all that

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and again this is a this is a capacity

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we have to be able to to to have a

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vision to see what is possible and we're

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meant to use it for the good we're meant

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to Foster it you know so many of us we

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can fall into these pity

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parties and think oh my life is so

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miserable and it's his fault or her

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fault and you know poor me I'll tell you

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something I've had a lot of pity parties

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over the year the Holy Spirit refuses to

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attend you know I invite the Holy Spirit

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to a Pity part I'm not going to your

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pity party do you know how much

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potential is inside of you if only you

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would open your eyes and see do you know

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how much power is available to you if

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you would just be willing to receive it

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you know do you know how much

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inspiration I can give you says the Holy

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Spirit if only you would settle down be

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still and see what can be done and so

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again I mean I I feel the holy spirit's

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infinite love but I don't get any

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sympathy for the Holy Spirit when I'm

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feeling sorry for myself because again

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the holy spirit is infinite creative

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explosive power and he wants us to

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discover that within

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ourselves the kingdom of God is within

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we have no reason to have pity parties

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and blame other people for how miserable

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our lives are the Lord wants us to see

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and again we have to cultivate this we

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have to recognize oh no no no no I'm not

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staying in this place of you know misery

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because I have a mighty God who gives

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light to those who are willing to see

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okay so we need to see what is present

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we need to see what is

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possible but we also need to see what is

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permanent who here wants to spend all of

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eternity in heaven do you want to spend

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everyone wants to praise the Lord the

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Lord wants us to

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see what is permanent what is Ultimate

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St Paul he saw what was what was

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permanent he writes in 2 Corinthians

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chapter 4 for this momentary light

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Affliction is producing for us an

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eternal weight of Glory beyond all

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comparison as we look not to what is

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seen But to what is unseen for what is

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seen is

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transitory but what is unseen is

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eternal the Lord Jesus says seek first

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the kingdom of God and all these things

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will be given to you beside we have this

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capacity to see the Eternal to see what

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is permanent and this should affect our

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whole life like the decisions we make

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including when we see what is present

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when we see what is possible it's always

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in the light of what is eternal you know

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when I walk down Spark Street or see the

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Tulip Festival all of that one day is

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going to pass away ultimately that's not

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forever and our great achievements you

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know climbing that mountain that's going

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to be

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forgotten but there are some things

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you know the love of God in our hearts

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that's forever the Lord says scripture

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says God's love is an everlasting love

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we recognize some things are forever and

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so even as we see what is present it

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should be in light of the Eternal when

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I'm walking down Spark Street and just

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marveling at our beautiful city oh I see

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this is just a hint of the Eternal

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Jerusalem and when I see those beautiful

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flowers this is just a hint

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of what Paradise will be like because

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scripture says the pure of heart will

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see God we should see God all around us

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again we're meant to be

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Visionaries we're meant to see the

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Unseen contemplatives see deeply and the

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thing is when we see God guess what it

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gives us it gives us joy because God is

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Everlasting Joy it it it sets us free

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and so brothers and sisters let the Lord

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open your eyes a new and aesh this

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morning

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let the Lord rekindle in you your

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contemplative demension your childlike

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ability for Wonder to see what the Lord

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has for you in this life and for all of

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eternity