A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an announcement for an Arts in Nature Festival.

I had other projects planned, yet I resonated strongly with the festival’s focus. I imagined myself creating a massive nest, and then inviting participants to write their Dream on a piece of paper and place it in the nest. I’d never put Dream Hatching out to the public so visibly.

With only a week to go before the event, the organizer gave me the green light. That’s when doubt started talking: Could I really pull it off that quickly?

Maybe I ought to attend this year’s festival and wait until next year to participate, when surely I would feel more ready?

That’s how fear talks: It sounds so sensible, reasonable, respectable. I mean, wasn’t jumping headlong into joining a festival impulsive?

Fear is a loyal friend, and here it was trying so hard to protect me. What if people didn’t “get” the idea of putting their Dreams in a nest? What if I couldn’t get it all done in time and it would fall short of my vision? Could I risk such discouragement?

I listen to fear, but I never let it have the last word.

What if it went well? What might that look like? What if I could create something magical that would enchant and touch whoever stumbled upon it? Wouldn’t that be using my gifts in a really positive way? If I approached this, not as a career move, but as a sacred offering, how could I go wrong? When your work is also your calling, a spiritual “bottom line” gets factored in to decisions.

This is one of those situations where to “pray without ceasing” can help. Not a continual asking or whining, but an ongoing dialogue. In the language of Dream Hatching, it looks like a bird in flight. You take your arms, your wings, and raise them over your head, as a prayer. With a downward stroke, you pull down Grace, whatever measure is given, all around you. At the same time, you lean forward into the unknown. Repeat. And keep repeating until you get where you’re going.

When you embark on a project, relationship or an adventure, consecrating it as sacred, and then giving it your all, it doesn’t really matter what happens. It could even be seen as a flop by others’ standards. Your internal experience will be that of embodying the sacred. By stringing these moments — and hours, and days — together like prayer beads, your life becomes holy, not because you have any moral superiority, but because you literally move in grace; You live in relationship with the Divine.

In the end, it unfolded better than I imagined, a trend I’ve witnessed countless times. Ask and it is given, beyond your wildest Dreams. Hundreds of people of all ages, genders, races embraced the idea of writing down their Dream and putting it into the nest. The Dreams, in five different languages, ranged from the simple to the sublime. Dream Hatching caught the eye of the Seattle Times and other local media, I made new friends and possible contacts, but best of all, I walked away with a massive dose of encouragement. When you pull down the energy/grace of Spirit, it lifts you.

Go on. Try it. Flap your wings in a full-bodied prayer. See if it doesn’t lift you and get things off the ground.