Thursday of the Third Week of Easter (April 19, 2018): Dream bigger and reach your full potential!

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus says, “I am the living bread from heaven.” Is he talking about the Eucharist? Yes, and –.

In the bread we use for sandwiches, the yeast that made the dough rise has been baked to death. The heat of the oven prevents the bread from growing any larger. Jesus, on the other hand, is living bread. He overcame death. His life is constantly rising, continually growing larger within us and then out from us to change the world. Or it should be.

God wants us reach our full potential. Most people today settle for a life of mediocrity. How hard do you push yourself to move beyond your comfort zone to discover how far your potential can actually reach?

We under-estimate our worth. We under-expect what God wants to do through us. We under-work our talents. We under-eat the Bread of Life. Like the baker who kneads the dough, we have to put effort into becoming all that God designed us to be and to do all that Jesus desires for us. And we have to spend time dreaming to find out what God has dreamt up for us.

It’s important to know our limits, but only so that we can turn to God and find new ways to grow past these limits. “Do you really grasp what you’re reading?” That’s the question that Philip asked the Ethiopian in our first reading today. The foreign official was on his way home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He wanted to grow in his relationship with God, but he was limited until Philip taught him about Jesus.

What’s the limit of your understanding of who Jesus is and what he can do for you and what you can do for him because of your faith? How can you expand beyond that?

How are the people around you limited in their understanding of Jesus? Will you let God stretch you so that you can help them experience more of him?

Jesus points out: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them… They shall be taught by God.” Philip was able to lead the Ethiopian to Christ because the Father was already drawing him. Anyone who truly desires a full relationship with God is drawn by the Father to the Son. If we’re willing to fulfill our own potential, God will have us jog along beside them, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to expand beyond our old limits, even beyond earthly limits, so that we can make a difference.

Daily, how much do we rely on God to take us to our full potential? We need to dare to dream his dreams for us. When we desire to grow beyond the mediocre, fascinated by the unimagined possibilities of our full potential, we find more self-esteem, more satisfaction, and more joy — and we change the world.

Thank You, Lord, for giving Yourself to me in the Eucharist. Give me the grace for opening my heart to whatever You want to do in me. Amen.