Wed, Jan 28, 2015

Got Faith?

  Faith has become the word of the year for me. For most this brings up religious faith, a faith in God, the bible or something that resembles the meaning those things represent. I have investigated various faiths, delved into some so deeply that I considered converting. In fact every faith i immersed myself in had some facet that I felt right and true more so than the Christianity I was brought up in. I also found that as I emerged from every period of immersion I had gained a greater understanding of Christianity, a deeper more profound meaning in the words I had heard (or misunderstood) as a youth. Faith is one of those things.  Faith and how it leads to grace. I found as well a deeper understanding of God, and why many religions avoid using a name for "God". The vastness of this world, it's chaos and it's intricate order, lead me to believe we have oversimplified God and as a result have lost the ability to know grace by way of true and complete faith. When the chaos descends on our lives we pray for it to stop or manifest in some other way- As we have been taught. Maybe we become more fastidious in our following of the word or resolve to be better people with the motivation that things will get better. I have found this way of thinking brings us away from the inner peace that comes with a gentle acceptance of the momentary chaos, that peace that comes with faith. I feel that we must have goals and excercise our own free will, but in the same breath I would say that the trials we face are a result of the course corrections made to accommodate the domino like interconnectednes that being a part of this world entails. So I have redefined the importance of faith in my life, and as a result I have found the grace of a life less full of worry and woe. This from someone who claims no one particular "faith" over another, and whose church could be found anywhere, with anyone.