Steve Rogers survives the experience to become a super soldier. He is not yet Captain America. But he does capture the attention of the country when, directly after the experiment, Hydra (the bad guys/Nazis) shoot up the facility where the experiment happened and murder the doctor. Steve takes after the Hydra agent and retrieves the last serum, which breaks during the recovery.
Steve Rogers is back at the facility, super soldiered out. With the doctor dead and the serum lost, the Colonel decides he can not send Steve to the war, but rather keeps him home to study in order to recreate the serum. Steve is unhappy about not going to war, but he wants to help his country in whatever way he can. He agrees to compromise his soul’s purpose, when he says yes to U.S. Senator Brandt’s suggestion of a tour as “Captain America” to sell war bonds while scientists study him and attempt to reverse-engineer the formula.
Peggy Carter, a British agent, does not agree. She tells Steve Rogers he is capable of much more before she follows the Colonel off to war.
This section of Captain America was bringing forth in me the questions: How much do I want my grand dream? Am I willing to compromise my goals, my dreams, my soul’s purpose to stay safe?
I totally get that Steve Rogers felt like he had no choice. He was dealing with the armed forces and chain of command. When the Colonel said no, it was no. No way for him to get to Europe to take part in the war.
I imagine that time was soul-draining for him. He kept busy. He did as he was told. He sold war bonds to support the war. Yet, there was something missing. He was meant for more.
I think about those times in my life when I played it small and safe.
Eighteen years ago, Spirit instilled in me a grand-dream. When I returned from that transformational sabbath time in the Lake District of England, I played it small. I had this dream and no inner resolve to make the dream a reality. I had no idea where to begin. It was so different than the Call I had always told myself was my Call.
I stayed comfortable, got a job, worked, paid my bills. I told myself I was doing ministry, and I was, in a way. Yet, I was not stepping up into my Soul Purpose.
When I was able to, I moved back East closer to family and continued to seek my Call, as if in the Lake District of England Spirit had not given me my Call. I tried Chaplaincy when the doors to pastoring in the ABC, USA were closed to me. I drifted.
I could feel this apathy seeping into my soul. And yet, I stayed small....
Each time a door closed, I would revisit my grand dream. Then I would talk myself out of it. Yet, I knew I was meant for something more, something transformative, something powerful.
One day I was painting during a retreat and all of a sudden the grand dream arrived in paint, color, and form. I could no longer ignore it!
Saying yes to this dream turned my life upside down. It was painful to address the apathy, the smallness, the loss of confidence, the lack that had seeped in all those years...
What I learned during the “Captain America” tour period of my life:
When we say no, or not yet, Spirit is there. Prodding us. Poking us. Inviting us to YES. Waiting patiently, sometimes impatiently. Reminding us of what and who we can be if we say YES to our Call, to our Soul’s purpose.
When we say yes to our Call, Spirit is there. Guiding us to be who we can fully be. Cheering us on. Supporting us. Healing us. Invigorating us.
Staying small is safe and comfortable, but deadly to our Soul and heart.
Stepping into our Soul’s purpose, fully embracing and embodying who we are Called to be requires a willingness to risk an inner strength and courage that leads to fullness, an expansion, an aliveness beyond imagination.
Do you feel the Sacred calling you to step up, to release the smallness of your life and risk your inner strength and courage, embodying the fullness of your Soul?
Do you desire to say YES to your Soul’s Purpose?
The Sacred is inviting you...
Do you hear Her?
