You Want Effortless Faith... Sit in a Chair

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

I live a life based on faith. Mine is spiritual in context, but faith encompasses more than the god you believe in or what set of doctrines you follow. I once heard someone say we show our ability to have faith every time we sit in a piece of furniture without even looking, let alone knowing the manufacturer or the specifics of the materials used or the skill of the designer. We have faith the furniture has been built well and will serve it's purpose of holding us. We do that without even thinking, that's faith.

For me, my faith is the grounding force in my universe. It's the thing that keeps me going, gets me up every morning no matter how badly beaten down I was the day before and what dictates my moral code. It's my faith that allows me to face the most daunting circumstances and to continue walking through the painful judgments of others.

Without my faith, I have nothing. I am nothing. I know me, without that faith, I'd crumple into a little ball and never get out of bed again. There would be no point to facing the cruelty of this world if I didn't believe there was a purpose and a point to it.

However, I am not one to ever tell another person what, or how, they should believe. If you can't have faith in a god for whatever reason, have faith in yourself. I know for a fact you were created with unique gifts and abilities and you have something of worth to bring to this world. However, when we lack faith in our self, then how can we ever accomplish greatness?

I want that for each person who reads my blog, I want you to live a life of greatness. I want you to reach for and achieve your dreams. I believe it's more than just possible, I believe it's
your destiny. I believe the dreams we keep inside us are our guide and road map to this thing called life. Never let anyone take those from you, you need them and quite frankly we need you to flourish and blossom.

Faith is not easy, whether it's in yourself or in a god because it requires you to believe something you can't see. Whether that's to have faith in your own worth as a person, or to have faith there is a higher power watching over you. The ability to believe things you cannot see with your eyes is a hard an complicated maneuver, and is much like a muscle, it takes work to condition it and keep it strong.

Think back on that example I used about furniture, is your faith in that situation difficult? No, because you've sat in countless pieces of furniture over your lifetime and they've all been just fine. So you have faith without even thinking anymore. You can have that same faith in a higher power, or in yourself, it just takes work and consistence.

I have so many days where I want to argue with the god I know because he never makes any logical sense and I like things to make sense. In many ways, if I didn't have such a deep sense of all things spiritual., logic, for all intents and purposes, would be my god. I like security and to be able to understand something, but my faith dictates that I believe in and follow that which at times makes no sense. So many times I'll have these conversations with god where we circle round and round something he wants of me that seems reckless and crazy and no way on earth could I possibly do that! I want guarantees, I want the design specifications for the chair and I want to talk to the timber mill that cut the wood and I want to know they didn't use cheap rivets in construction that may burst if my chair hits an iceberg ;-)  In the end though, god is always right, always trustworthy, and I follow.

In the aftermath, I always see the lesson and why I needed to do things exactly as he directed and though you think that would be enough to make me simply leap every time I'm shown something, I assure you, it's not. I do the same song and dance with god almost every time I'm asked to do something and while I will tell you faith is not easy, I cannot imagine living my life any other way. I like to think that every time I work through one of these little episodes, I'm that much stronger. That maybe it will be just a tiny bit easier the next time. That some day, my faith in god will be as effortless as sitting in a piece of furniture.

I always told my children when they were growing up, that life with god was like walking through one of those hedge mazes. When you are inside one of those, you can't tell which way is up, where the dead ends are, which are the more direct routes, which path may lead you by something astounding. At Sea World in California they used to have on of these hedge mazes, only they had a platform above where parents could go to and look down on their children and direct them. This is how I see god. He's on that platform. He sees all the pitfalls and traps on my path, and he's directing me where I need to go. That doesn't mean the shortest safest route by a long shot, but it does mean the good and solid path where I will learn and grown and receive all the blessings planned for me.

Walking with god for me is not always easy, in fact there are times it seems harder than I can bear, but I've lived my life walking with him, and I've lived it away and I'm just old enough and wise enough now to noticed the differences. I believe there is always sorrow and suffering in this world. You will always have pain, however I also believe that by following along the path I'm led by faith, that perhaps my pain is a little easier to bear. Perhaps my suffering is a little less. My faith sustains me. I'd be lost without it. That voice deep inside me that I recognize as that of god, never leads me wrong... doesn't necessarily make a whole lot of sense at times, but that's where the faith comes in.

I personally am struggling this week. There are two rather large bumps in the road ahead of me that I wish I could simply avoid. I find myself questioning the difference between faith and straight out denial. My body is reacting to the stress of it, despite I am staying in faith and trusting god for my delivery in these situations. I was reminded yesterday how looking with my eyes doesn't work because there are things in play I simply cannot see. Much like in the hedge maze. For me, I have to trust in god because I do believe he sees the entire picture and I do believe he will always lead me straight.

I am trusting in god, his timing and his plans for my life and I will not doubt that he has only the best things in store for me if I remain faithful. I believe in a god who honors my faith. I've seen it time and again and as I live now a surrendered life, that honor has only grown.

There are so many facets of faith and I have only scratched the surface here, but if you want to have a longer dialogue please feel free to contact me. I'm not invested in anyone's "salvation" but I do adore open respectful discussions on faith because it's a subject I'm passionate about.

Maybe you could try a little faith out today for yourself. When you find that moment where you doubt, either remind yourself that there is a god of the universe that created and loves you and is deeply interested in how your day is going, or simply remind yourself how wonderful you are and how much potential you have. Don't allow negative people around you to dictate your self worth. Have faith in your gifts, in your dreams, and your ability to accomplish them.

As Martin Luther King Jr once said ~ Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.