"You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Becoming an enlightened person, also known as awakening your Christ Consciousness, is not an instantaneous process.  Just joining a church or a spiritual school doesn't make you enlightened.  Enlightenment is a gradual process that happens over time.  When you are just starting out, it is often impossible to really understand the ultimate goal and why it is so important to strive for it.  That is why, in the beginning at least, it takes a little faith in ourselves, in the process, and in God, to get us moving in the right direction.  We also have to keep reminding ourselves of the goal so we don't give up when we run into difficulties or don't grow as fast as we would like to or as fast as some other student in the same school.