Faith is a Belief in Things-Daily Meditation 8.15.23

Today’s quotation:

Faith is a belief in things your senses have not experienced and your mind does not understand, but you have touched and accepted them in other ways.  It is easy to speak of faith; it is another thing to live it.-Peace Pilgrim

Today’s Meditation:

I have faith in many things, including God–though I’m not quite sure how I define God.  I don’t think we have to know precisely what God is (and who does?) to have faith in him/her/it.  To me, God is the life essence of us all the time, the unity of all people, and the love we share daily.  I don’t try to define God, yet I have faith that this indefinable part of our lives is, first of all, good and, second of all, faithful to us. 

I also have faith in other people, though that faith is tried very often.  I believe things usually happen for the best, even when they seem too bad.  I think the major problem most people have with faith is that they expect to see what would affirm that faith very clearly, but I gave up long ago trying to see things that would prove that my belief is justified.  It’s enough to have faith and to accept what life gives me, trusting that it’s just what I need.

It’s a shame that many people with somewhat extreme religious beliefs have taken over the world.  They say things like, “If your faith were only stronger.” They often use the term as a synonym for belief, always implying that if we just had faith in the things that they have confidence in (if we believed exactly as they believe, in other words), then our lives would be joyful.  But faith must be as unique as each individual who has it, for that’s how we were created–as unique people, each of whom is designed to approach life and things like faith in our ways.

What do you have faith in?  Is it true faith, or is it qualified?  What would you like to have confidence in?  Remember that just because someone else may tell you your faith is misplaced doesn’t mean they’re right.  Find the places where you want to put your confidence, and put it there firmly.  Then, your faith will serve you well.

Questions to consider:

How do you define faith?

What things keep you from having strong faith in certain things?

What is the quality of your faith?

For further thought:

It is the quality of faith that counts.  It is not important what you believe as how you believe.  For faith is the peculiar elixir of youth. . . . Whoever has faith is young, no matter how old he or she is; whoever has lost faith is ancient, even at twenty-one.-Frank Crane

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