Hope in faith
As this year has slipped into the wintry season of rest and less light, I’m afraid that my mood has reflected some of the gray days of the season. On the other hand, as the days have gone by in the past few months, I have reflected much on faith and its power to restore hope.
As I’ve gone through some minor trials, those around me have borne me up with variations of “Things will work out” and “Just keep the faith.”
What is faith? We know it’s something that has much to do with hope, but what sort of hope?
Can it be a hope in one’s self or family? This is a sort of faith, but not what I am thinking about.
The faith that I speak of is a deeper faith. It’s the sort of faith many lose over the years because of experience and changing perspectives regarding God, religion or humankind’s inability to just get along together. For whatever reason, when one’s faith changes perspectives, does this mean that it must also wane?
This is where the past few months come in for me. I’ve realized that though my perspective concerning the religion of my birth and accompanying perspective on cosmology and God has changed much over the years, my need for faith and a need to nurture that love of the creative force has increased amidst the change and internal confusion.
What greater hope can there be than to understand one’s own need for faith and an understanding of the cosmos’ based upon one’s own inner self?
Just because one finds himself at odds with prevailing theology or the patriarchy or matriarchy of spirituality that is offered by certain traditions, it doesn’t mean we must separate ourselves from our own unique inner faith.
Explore your faith’s meaning, origins, its connections to humanities’ great foundation of faith, and let it take you to the wide-open and well-lit places that your spirit calls home. Cherish your own faith.
Let it carry you toward your own true self and allow it to connect you to others you care for or wish to be close to.
That faith can be your fire and even a compass keeping your soul oriented toward your own greatest hope.
Take time and rediscover your own voice. Relish hope in faith.