How to Lose Everything and Still Hope

it's possible to work really really hard and lose and i think that's a lesson that every one of us needs to learn [Music] hi my name is father mike schmitz and this is ascension presents i had this kind of thought occurred to me and i thought huh i think that every kid should have a pet at some point or every kid should work on a farm at some point and then i remember thinking okay wait no maybe not on a farm maybe not a pet but i think every kid at some point should be involved in sports uh competitive sports or or involved in competitive uh music or competitive dance or competitive debate or competitive speech something that's basically here's the thing something that's competitive where you can get cut something that's competitive so you can lose because here's what i think i think that sports teaches us can teach us a lot of things right i think raising animals can teach us a lot of things it can teach us diligence it can teach us hard work it can teach us camaraderie it can teach us you know that that fraternity that belongs you know part of a team that teamwork it's awesome but i think the number one lesson that sports teaches us or competitive dance or competitive speech or competitive music is it teaches us that it's possible to work really really hard and lose and i think that's a lesson that every one of us every one of us needs to learn um and that's the reason why i thought at first like we should all have pets all work on farms because it's possible to give your heart to something to give your heart to a pet and then that thing dies wow like wow father mike did you roll out of the bed on the wrong side today like no i think this is a really positive thing even though it's a very difficult thing it's a really difficult but incredibly important reality of life that you can give your heart to something and it's going to die that you can give your all for something and you can still lose and this is the thing that that death isn't necessarily the end and that your failure isn't necessarily final it's one thing to compete and win that's awesome that's great it's one it's another thing to have a pet and to love it and to have you know a great buddy tags along you know man's best friend whatever that kind of thing is those are really great things but there's also something so profoundly important for every human being to recognize that i know what it's like to rejoice in victory and i know what it's like to be gracious in defeat and what it's like to have my hopes dashed and to still get up the next day and move forward you know one of the things that i i hear a ton of little kids um whether i be related to them my nieces and nephews um or other people's cute little kids is is it's not fair like right that's the thing it's like especially if you have any nieces or nephews or children of your own or you teach in a class where they're all the same age and they want to make sure everyone gets exactly the same thing as everyone else gets you we hear that phrase a ton it's not fair and that's really good because we want people to ha we want kids to have the id the notion of fairness we want we want to instill in them a notion of justice like that's a good thing that's a that's a good expectation to be able to work for justice that is a great goal but we also have to realize that in spite of our best laid plans life is not always fair i remember i was talking to a dad about this and he said yeah he said when i said that word i said i said that term i said life is not fair and he said yep that's what i tell my kids all the time you see any peanuts here you see any cotton candy this isn't a fair kid like that's really clever i really like that a lot but the reality of course is that once we interiorize that once we recognize this not only the fact that justice is a good justice is an ideal it's something worth striving for or something worth pursuing and and at the same time we don't always get justice and at the same time life is not always fair that's wisdom again just this recognition the awareness that you can lose and wake up the next day and get out of bed and keep moving forward the the awareness that that you can give your whole heart to something or someone and you can lose them whether they're taken away or whether they walk away and you can get up the next day and you can get out of bed and you can keep that that thing you keep letting that thing in your chest keep on beating you keep letting that thing in your chest keep on loving in spite of the fact that everything you and i know and love at some point is going to die is at some point is going to be taken away like this this is what it is to be to be wise but this is what it is also to have the long view because as christians this is the reality this is so incredible we look at what what's the what's the the kind of like the sign of signs for us as christians is jesus christ on the cross well we would say this is the most incredible moment of defeat this is the most incredible moment of injustice right here's the here's the righteous one here's the one who's committed no sin here's he's done no wrong here's god himself who is completely good completely holy completely love and here he is falsely accused condemned and here at the end that is not fair and yet he allowed that unfairness that injustice to overwhelm him and then what happened three days later he got up three days later he stepped out of the tomb three days later he demonstrated to the world and to you and to me that not only is death not the end not only is failure not final but that everyone who belongs to christ everyone who belongs to him in the worst moment of our life in the worst season of our life when when the things and the people that we love the most are taken from us in the greatest moment of defeat he is present in that and that's why we have courage right that's why we have hope that's why we can get up even after the worst defeat even after the worst loss anyone could ever you could possibly imagine imagine right now as people as you're watching this there is someone watching this right now who this right now today is your worst day of your life that that maybe you've gone through an incredible defeat maybe you actually have lost the person or the thing that you've loved more than anything else in this entire world and you ask the question is this the end is this failure final and the answer is no the answer is no there is this thing called hope and there's this thing called a future full of hope that god has in store for you because what you can do is what jesus did with the power of jesus not because you're so strong not because you and i are like so great on our own but because you have the spirit of the living god in you you have the spirit of jesus christ that raised him from the dead still dwelling in you and that holy spirit is the power enough to this morning open your eyes get out of bed and keep on walking and tomorrow the holy spirit will give you the power to open your eyes to get out of bed and to keep walking because one of the greatest lessons in life is that you can fail and it's not final that you can lose and you're not lost then not even death is the end that you can give your heart to something or to someone and they be taken away or they walk away but that doesn't mean that's the end of your heart or that's the end of your life because jesus christ dwells inside of you and he gives you the strength to open your eyes to get out of bed and to keep walking forward i think that's true wisdom and that's the wisdom that i just think if we can embrace that this day and every day um if we could teach that to our kids in their sports and their music and their in their speech and their debate on the farm in their pets and in their lives then um there's more important things than life being fair there's this reality that god is in the midst of our lives and regardless of whether they're up or down full or empty in the beginning or the end life might not always be fair but with jesus christ it is always good anyways that's what i'm thinking uh from certain ascension presents my name is father mike god bless [Music] you

Channel: Ascension Presents

Views: 63,745

Keywords: Fr. Mike, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension Presents, Ascension, Ascension Youtube, Ascension Press, Father Mike Schmitz, Fr. Mike advice, Father Mike advice, fr. mike schmidt, loss, losing, how to lose, hope, how to lose it all, losing everything, i've lost everything, coping with loss, grief, bereavement, how to get back on track, fr. mike motivation, catholic motivation, christian inspiration

Id: BN8gANMC50w

Length: 9min 10sec (550 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021