Day 137: Faith

I don’t know if there’s a God or not. I’m certainly not here to answer that question or persuade anyone into believing what I believe. I’m not here to convince myself into thinking one way or another. Perhaps the most beautiful gift that life hands over to man and woman is free will—the ability to make up our own minds. Now, hopefully you do some due diligence and arm yourself with a sizable chunk of information and gather a good-sized collection of opinions representing all points of view, but even if you don’t, it’s up to you to arrive at your destination in your own way. Even if you celebrate and pay honor to your faith in the midst of others who share common ground, ultimately faith is a personal, individual journey.

All that said, I’ve always been fascinated at the correlation one can draw between faith and happiness. I’ve noticed over the years that arguably the happiest people I know are those who also have strong faith. The people who are most comfortable and confident in themselves hold great faith. The people who are most optimistic and positive are those with a strong foundation that’s built on faith. Among those I know who are able to look forward to the opportunities that each and every coming day may bring are those who exhibit strong faith. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

Honestly, I’m not 100% certain where I come out on the notion that there is a purpose for everything. That everything happens for a reason. I’m not certain to what degree I hold up blind faith. I have trouble seeing a definite reason why some horrific abuses occur and why some deaths are so heinous and grisly. It’s difficult for me to make rhyme or reason out of why children are taken advantage of or why the elderly who are brutally discarded. I don’t understand the reasons why torture or genocide occurs. I don’t see the purpose. But I’m fascinated by people who can. In many respects, I admire their ability to see something redeeming in the sinister and senseless. Maybe they’re just making the best out of a bad situation, or maybe they know something I don’t. I’d like to believe in the latter.

On a less tragic note, I’m also fascinated by people who handle setback after setback and discouragement after discouragement with such grace and dignity. It honestly moves me to view people stare down disappointment and reshape it into an opportunity to improve. More often than not, the people I witness who do this best are people of strong faith. Again, probably not a coincidence. I hate to speak for them and proclaim the source of their perseverance, but if I had to, I’d say that they’d attribute a vast majority of their resilience to believing in something stronger than themselves, something that pushes and pulls them along, leading them to a grander, finer ending point.

Strong faith makes me think of a 13-year-old girl who is a longtime friend of my daughter. I doubt I’ve met many people of any age who display such steadfast faith. Sincerely, I draw inspiration from her ability to see each day as a great opportunity to examine and explore, to be bigger than one’s self, to mature and move forward. I also can’t think of too many others as willing to publicly state the source of their faith. It takes strength to publicly document your conviction in today’s society, particularly if you’re a teenager. Amazing. I also think of my great aunt by marriage, someone who has dealt with a long string of setbacks and done it with indescribable grace. I think of a friend who is a reverend, humanitarian, and source of endearing bright light. His ability to effortlessly spread love through his faith is utterly remarkable. I think of the many people I know who have transformed their lives from being people who followed paths that lead them into nothingness to being people who drew faith from something mightier than themselves and found new paths that led to fulfillment I’m sure most of them likely never thought existed.

I’m fascinated by faith. It can do wonders. It can move mountains. It can make the impossible possible. I fascinated how faith can splinter but be repaired, how it can plummet but then soar. I’m fascinated by how some people’s faith never wavers, never rises or falls, only remains constant. I think I’m most fascinated how faith can instill strength that seemingly wouldn’t otherwise exist.