Faith is having peace,
Even
The answers.
The past two years, I have been learning a lot about faith. With all the prayers, with all the struggles, with all the asking, I still have not found many answers. But, I do keep trying. I keep saying to myself that the answers will come. Sometimes we just have to act "as if" it will all be explained. We have to act "as if" we already know.
Take my daughter for example. When we were visiting in St. Louis, we went to a place that has jumping and rolling and shooting games. The kids had a blast and what they really wanted to do was to roll around in these large plastic balls. My young daughter, just "knew" she wasn't going to fit because she is too fat. She has lost a lot of weight this year and has really struggled with her self esteem. She still sees herself as someone who weighs too much.
Obviously, to me, she does not have a weight problem. And in-spite of all her protestations to the contrary, she fit inside the ball just fine and rolled and crashed into everyone. She laughed and had fun because she had the courage to try.
I think, that faith can be about courage. It is hard to believe sometimes. It can be especially hard when those we love choose differently than we do. Yet, what they choose should not affect our own beliefs. It is almost as if everyone has to see things the same way or else nothing is true.
Faith never has been about believing the same things as the "in group". It is about standing for something. It is about courage. It is about walking forward in spite of your own doubts and fears.
Faith is hard. It was never meant to be easy. It is about finding the peace within, even when the answers without, elude you. It is knowing that someday, those answers will come. It is knowing that someday, you will be in a place to recognize them. It is about finding peace in spite of yourself.
Take my daughter for example. When we were visiting in St. Louis, we went to a place that has jumping and rolling and shooting games. The kids had a blast and what they really wanted to do was to roll around in these large plastic balls. My young daughter, just "knew" she wasn't going to fit because she is too fat. She has lost a lot of weight this year and has really struggled with her self esteem. She still sees herself as someone who weighs too much.
Obviously, to me, she does not have a weight problem. And in-spite of all her protestations to the contrary, she fit inside the ball just fine and rolled and crashed into everyone. She laughed and had fun because she had the courage to try.
I think, that faith can be about courage. It is hard to believe sometimes. It can be especially hard when those we love choose differently than we do. Yet, what they choose should not affect our own beliefs. It is almost as if everyone has to see things the same way or else nothing is true.
Faith never has been about believing the same things as the "in group". It is about standing for something. It is about courage. It is about walking forward in spite of your own doubts and fears.
Faith is hard. It was never meant to be easy. It is about finding the peace within, even when the answers without, elude you. It is knowing that someday, those answers will come. It is knowing that someday, you will be in a place to recognize them. It is about finding peace in spite of yourself.
“When you get to the end of all the light you know and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.” Edward Teller
I loved the ending quote. Faith is hard and I agree with all you have said in this post.
ReplyDeleteYour title was perfect for these thoughts on faith.
Blessings and thanks for sharing this lovely post today~