Do you ever feel incomplete?
One of my favorite pieces of writing is Thomas Troward’s essay on Completeness.
It’s a powerful piece; one that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently – so I’ve decided to share a few ideas with you about completeness in this email.
To start off, when we think about personal growth, something I believe (as does Troward that we often neglect is the contemplation of how complete we truly are.
Why is this important? Well, when we don’t understand our completeness and our oneness with God, we consider ourselves incomplete; and in that, we doubt ourselves and our ability to bring forward our dreams into reality.
And it gets in the way of us ever being, doing, and having all that we desire.
Think about it…
When we have an idea to do something or to bring something forward, usually the first thing that happens is this: we come up with excuses for why we can’t do something – excuses that tell us we're incomplete.
I like to use the Biblical story of Moses as an example.
Moses is empowered with a mission from God to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land.
He has been chosen and assigned by God to bring this mission forward – yet, the first thing Moses does is question his abilities.
After God calls Moses, immediately, Moses makes excuses.
He brings up the fact that he isn’t capable; that he has a stutter; that he’s not confident in his speaking abilities, and that he wouldn’t be able to convince the king of Egypt to let his people go.
Essentially, he tells God, “You’ve got the wrong guy,”
Not only does Moses question his abilities, but he regards his brother, Aaron, as much more capable. He plays the comparison game.
Have you ever felt like that?
Like you had an opportunity right in front of you; perhaps one that would help you grow and was in alignment with your dream, but you were too scared to act on it? Or maybe an opportunity opened up that you’ve been dreaming of for years…. But as soon as the door opens and you’re given the chance to take it, you don’t…
Something stops you…
The first thing you do is question your completeness.
You believe you aren’t ready, you tell yourself it just isn’t the right time, and you decide not to do what deep down you know you want to do.
Or maybe you play the comparison game. You think of all the other people who would be better equipped than you at taking that opportunity.
Look, I know what that’s like playing the comparison game. I’ve done it in the past, and I have to stop myself from doing it to this day.
But here's what I've learned: you comparing yourself to others or making excuses like "it's not the right time," usually means one thing: you don’t understand your completeness of your oneness with God.
But the truth is, you aren’t incomplete. You're already complete as you are.
Troward says, “A point on which students of mental science often fail to lay sufficient stress is the completeness of man – not a completeness to be attained hereafter, but here and now.”
Here’s the truth about what Troward is saying: this is not about some completeness that happens later, but here and now.
God didn’t create you to become complete at the time of your death. He created you with a oneness with him; a connection that isn’t meant to be severed.
All of us have a purpose to become aware and to live from an awareness of our oneness with God.
Troward says, “We have been so accustomed to have the imperfection of man drummed into us that at first the idea of his completeness altogether staggers us.”
We hear this in books, in conversation, in ideas that have been taught to us by influential figures from a young age…
But to truly operate at the highest level, we must become aware of our completeness and our oneness with God.
I hope that leaves you with something to ponder and to remember as you go about your week - that you are complete.
I’ll be diving deeper into this topic in some emails in the coming weeks. For now, I hope you’ll become aware of the power of contemplating your oneness with God.
I look forward to diving deeper into this topic with you soon.