The One

I am under no illusions about my power to convert.  I know the boundaries, given my abilities and skills, of success.  I seriously doubt my ability to share, convince, and persuade; so much so that I am more than willing to concede on the results well in advance of the time given to be successful.  Out of the nine there is easily more than one who will always be a doubter and naysayer.  I am not going to win every one of my colleagues over to a new way of thinking.  Even with God’s help it is unlikely, probably impossible.
 
I hate to loose.  I despise conceding anything while there is still time in the game or before the deadline.  Even when the odds are going away I still want to fight.  I willingly and easily admit that a large chunk, sizable majority, of what people accredit to me is actually the result of the Spirit’s work.  It is great to be along for the ride.  So why not acknowledge where the real power resides?  Talking about the Source isn’t going to change the way God works.  The key will continue to lie in the relationship that exists between Spirit and child. 
 
Yet, in spite of a reasonably healthy relationship with the Divine, I know that those around me have the freedom of choice.  Given this choice and the inner desire to let the god within out, the odds suggest an outcome where the god within does not willingly acknowledge the God without.  There will continue to be times where self wins out over community and we looses out to I.  Even with the twelve that he chose, the defection and failure to convince Judas was known well in advance.  Weeks before the event Jesus “was referring to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.  This man—one from the Twelve!—was even then getting ready to betray him.”  (John 6.71)
 
This knowledge didn’t change Jesus behavior and compassion, nor should my awareness change mine.  The solution today, tomorrow, is, for one and all, always compassionate hope.