Author: Tim Kelley
Greetings from the mountains of western North Carolina.
We’re a little over halfway through the fraternal year now. Many of you are probably looking at the Countdown to Convention as you’re reading this. You’re shooting for the stars and maybe finding some challenges. Maybe as you’re trying to hit your goals, you start hearing your detractors. I remember hearing them: “You can’t do this,” “it’s too hard,” “it’s too much for you,” and the like. Then, one day, I could see from a distance the person who was saying these things, and I decided to confront him, whether I should have or not, so I rushed towards him and when I finally confronted him, I found…glass. It was a mirror. This is a metaphor, but isn’t that true? Oftentimes our biggest doubter is ourselves. So, we must learn to get out of our own way, and ignore that negative voice in our heads, and move forward in faith, and not be afraid to take risks. After all, it’s not about us, it’s about Him. In John 3:30, John the Baptist most notably said, “He must increase; I must decrease.” So, let’s get ourselves and our egos and insecurities out of the way, and let Him increase. After all, we learn in Matthew 17:20 that, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move.” Nothing is impossible. We must cast aside our doubts in anything thrown our way in our leadership roles. We are in these roles for a reason, and not just because we were out of town when the council held its election. You have been called by the Lord to those roles you have now, and if you “let go and let God,” you will find enormous success.
What is a good way to deal with these doubts and uncertainty and help to increase our faith, you may ask? Prayer, of course. And prayer is more powerful in a group. Exactly one chapter after the quote above, Matthew 18:20 states, “for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Supreme has provided us with a great roadmap called COR and I know our Worthy State Warden will be more than happy to help you get this going when he isn’t dancing joyously through a pile of forms. We have also created statewide virtual prayer options to help you gather in prayer with your brothers from all across the state. Technology has improved in leaps and bounds over the years – we should be using it for the glory of God! To build the city of God! We recently completed an online Novena for Life, and we join together for the Rosary every Sunday evening at 8:00 PM. Please join us and pray for wisdom and certainty as you take on these roles that you were inspired to do.
Lastly, of course, I would be remiss not to shout out Safe Environment. At this writing, we had topped 55% compliance in the state. I issued a challenge to the District Deputies at the Midyear Meeting to get us to 100% compliance. For every district whose councils are all Safe Environment compliant at the time of the State Convention in Hickory in May, I will donate $10 to LAMB…with 32 districts in the state, that’s a potential $320 donation to LAMB and all you have to do is the right thing to learn how to protect children and vulnerable adults in your parish and community. We owe them that much. I am here to help. Never hesitate to reach out.
“The Lord is my helper and I will not be afraid.” – Hebrews 13:6
Vivat Jesus!