Don’t give up. Have hope! Byron Kyle: I grew up being…

Don’t give up. Have hope!
Byron Kyle: I grew up being taught a few core values, of those, faith and hope were of great importance. For me, faith is believing in what you cannot see. Hope is having faith that you will one day see what you believe. Realization is having your faith confirmed, that is, actually witnessing what you believe. It is problematic that faith is used to describe hope but the two support each other. Explained differently faith is an affirmation or declaration while hope is the doing. You must have heard people say, “Don’t give up! Have hope!” Hope is the will to carry on and this is why I write to all of you.
Joining this community of faith, I heard many grand stories of transformation. You hear them within every faith. Tales of triumph that sound like the basis for a Hollywood blockbuster or best-selling biography. Usually, you’ll find that these stories take place over just a few weeks to a few months. The intentions of these stories are good. They are meant to encourage and excite, and on most occasions they do, but I am here to tell you differently. For many, including myself, these stories are just stories. These stories are just puffed up tales of grandeur with no solid basis or traceable line of evidence. At least, these are my feelings and I am sure the feelings of many others.
A life in pursuit of perfection is undoubtedly going to be a life of struggle. Not all of us get it right the first time or the thousandth time! I am here to offer encouragement to all those who experience the path as arduous; who no longer feel ecstasy in kirtan; or who harbor difficult and compulsive behaviors in secret. I am here to encourage devotees who have been at this lifestyle for a while and are thinking they are not making much progress while novices seem to overtake them. And I am speaking as a young person and a university student facing the greatest social pressures he’ll probably experience in his life.

I encourage all of you to look back. It is only in retrospect that you will see all the footholds that have carried you across the fast flowing river of challenges that we call life. And moving forward, I encourage you to be more discerning in choosing where you’ll place your feet and which direction you’ll take. Life is certainly a marathon, not a sprint. Real, lasting change is often deep and gradual rather than quick and dramatic. Real change is usually quiet and an almost unnoticeable affair. Real change requires consistency and not just an intense burst of energy. This model for change applies not only to our devotional life but to all our endeavors.

So I say to all of you, my friends, to look back on your effort and to applaud yourself for it. Applaud the faith you have even if it comes and goes in fits and starts. And I say to you, in the words of Bhakti Tirtha Swami to “…resist the temptation to be normal, because those who are considered normal accept the values and practices of an insane world.”

Don’t give up. Have hope. The victory you are looking for may be just around the corner. You may lose many a battle but you have a choice on the outcome of the war. Jay Sri Krishna!