The answers to those questions are actually quite simple. It is living them out that may be harder.
What is faith? I define faith as believing in something greater than myself. For me, I name that as God, a spiritual presence that is greater than I can imagine, that loves us beyond definition and that binds all of the universe together. For others, that “greater than myself” is named in many ways. In AA, they refer to a Higher Power. In others faiths, it may be Allah, Heavenly Father, Supreme Being. In Buddhism, it is not a being but the Eightfold Path. For some, it may be nature that is the “greater than myself” or the whole world community.
Why do we need to believe in something greater than ourselves? Belief in a Higher Power gives us two things that are essential to our lives. 1. Meaning & Purpose and 2. A Place to Rest Without these two things, we lose ourselves.
Meaning & Purpose: It is human nature to search for meaning. We do it all the time. We are desperate to make sense of what happens to us and around us. Through the ages, people have given meaning to everything from the spilling of salt to the death of a loved one to a natural disaster. As humans, we ask, “Why?” and are rarely satisfied until we can come up with some sort of answer to that question.
The search for meaning also serves to give purpose to our lives. If we allow ourselves to think about it, we all know how insignificant each of our lives really is. We are one little blip in the huge landscape of human existence and even a smaller blip if you consider the whole universe and the span of time that goes back to the creation of the universe. Our reaction to this knowledge could be to say, “It doesn’t matter what I do. Who cares?” And indeed some people make this choice. But more often, in fact most of the time, we ask instead, “How can I make a positive difference?” and we seek to live with love and compassion in this world. It’s truly an amazing thing, really!
Jesus once said, “You are so important to God that God knows the number of hairs on your head!” That’s quite a thing to hear! I’m important in this universe. I’m important in the huge landscape of existence and time. I can make a positive difference. There is a purpose to my life.
Rest: We all need a place to rest, where we can let go of our worries and fears, where we can lay down our responsibilities and burdens for just awhile, so that we can refresh our souls and renew our energy. God provides the ultimate rest for us. The good shepherd who leads us beside still waters, the loving grandmother who listens to all our woes, the father who welcomes us with open arms even though we’ve messed up completely, the spirit who calls us to dance and sing with her celebrating the joys of life – that is the God in whom we rest. We rest knowing that we don’t have to do it all alone. We rest knowing that we are part of a bigger purpose –that it is not all on our shoulders. We rest knowing that God understands all that we are facing and is beside us all the way.
Without Meaning & Purpose in our lives, without a place to Rest, we burn out, we give up, we turn to addictions to quiet the disturbing thoughts and feelings. We need to believe in something/someone greater than ourselves or we lose ourselves.
Practicing our Faith is probably the harder part. We can believe in a Higher Power. We can understand why we need a Higher Power. But then we need to practice our faith so that it is really there for us when we need it. We learn how to deepen our prayer life, we read and learn by heart the stories of our faith tradition to provide a reference point in our lives and we gather with others in faith community for support and care so that our faith is alive and well and so that we can lean into the faith when we are exhausted, grieving and overwhelmed by the twists and turns of life.
And we teach the practise of faith to our children so that faith is there for them when they need it. We show them what it means for us to pray, to learn and share our faith stories and to be part of a community of faith. We reflect to them what it means for us to believe in God, and how believing in God gives meaning and purpose to our lives. We model for them what it means to rest in God, trusting that God is with us through all that life brings our way.
Faith – believing in something greater than myself – is what I rely on every day. When life becomes overwhelming, when I’m not sure I can make it through a situation, I close my eyes, open my heart and mind to God and say to myself the words of Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” And a peace settles over me. I don’t know how the “all shall be well” will happen. But I know it will happen, because I believe in God who is greater than me and loves me more than I can imagine.
Faith is what I keep practicing. Faith is what I want to give as a gift to my children.
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