Developing our Dream into a mission

Developing our Dream into a mission

Icon of the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan

Developing our Dream

Abbot Martin has dreamed of  “A Space”, where the monks of Ealing could:

extend the Benedictine charism of hospitality

provide an invitation to “Come and Meet”

offer a Benedictine environment.

Wishful thinking is the start of all dreams. It is the starter to get the motor running. When the motor is running the drivers can engage the first gear and start to make progress.

All children dream and play make-believe. For some reason, as they grow older, they are instructed to stop dreaming and face reality. Academic education has top priority while dreams have low priority. Yet, there has never been an achievement that did not begin with a dream. There has never been success without many failures. Why is it that society wants everyone to succeed without failure? Why does society have a need to kill dreams?

During the dreaming stage, one is alone with his seemly impossible ideas. When talking about ideas, the first reaction is… “Where did he get that nutty idea?” All great inventors and achievers go through this phase, especially during the failure days. After a few successes, people say nothing about wild ideas. Add a few more successes; everyone will support any idea you have.

It takes persistence to find what works. Only you realize your ideas have possibilities, the public will not realize possibilities until you prove them to be of value. After the Wright Brothers invented the airplane and proved man can fly, it took two years before anyone thought flying was a practical idea. The U.S. Army rejected consideration of the invention outright. All through the development years, people considered The Wright Brothers nuts. To shield themselves from criticism, they only informed people who could help them and took criticism, if necessary, for their help.

People with ambitions are dedicated to anyone who will help them reach their goals. People who don’t have dreams or ambitions are not motivated and are not dedicated to anything except the paycheck.

Many people yield to dream killers. In their thoughts, “my friends are right, my ideas are all crazy” and give up. This belief may be true when first exploring an idea. There is no such thing as success on the first try, except in the classroom. Giving up is losing ambition, opportunity, and eventual success. A downward spiral of self-esteem follows.

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Developing our Dream

Seasons of growing
We hope that after a long Winter of many challenges we can work together, building on sure foundations, and work together to make Fr Abbot’s dream into a lived reality

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© Ealing Abbey, copyright 2 February 2014