Faith

Pay attention.  There will be a quiz at the end of this post.  :)

On the wall of my living room, there hangs an Amish print called "Five Happy Quilters" which primitively shows five girls/women dancing in a circle around two quilts hanging on a clothesline, with a house and horse-and-buggy in the background.  The caption is: "None live so pleasantly as those who live by faith".  I believe that or I wouldn't have it on my wall--except that I think I was more attracted by the colors of the print than by the message when I bought it. 

I have always had faith in God.  I just didn't understand, early on, that my faith would sometimes be challenged.  One of my favorite ministers through the years gave an illustration in a sermon once that struck a chord with me.  He told of a man who fell off a cliff and was hanging on to a branch that stopped his fall.  The man cried to God for help and heard a clear voice claiming to be God, telling him that he would be saved if he had faith.  The frightened man wasn't so sure.  "How do I know that you are God?" he asked.  The voice answered, "Let go!"

There are times in life when one has no choice but to let go and put oneself in the hands of people that he/she does not know or trust.  My brain aneurysm and heart attack are testament to that.   My life was saved by people who did not even know me.  How much faith did I put in that?  How much faith did I have when the crises were over and I had survived??

I have a relatively young Facebook friend who is the son of a Salvation Army officer (minister).  He suffers from uncontrolled epilepsy and is frequently posting despondent messages about himself.  But he has a gift.  He has a camera and an eye for pictures...some of which are absolutely stunning.  I took the trouble to write to a a couple of sources that would be happy to have his pictures for their publications, but when I wrote to him and suggested that he needed to copyright and submit them, he told me no....that his success had to be totally up to God...that he was relying on God to discover his talents...that he would not promote his pictures.  In short, the sources had to come to him, not the other way around.  So, who's wrong?  Him for believing that opportunities will just fall in his lap, inspired by God...or me, for believing that he needs to take control of what God has already given him?  Is this about faith? 

Most of us have faith that the sun will come up in the morning because it always does.  We have faith that we will wake up in the morning, although not all of us do.  Sometimes, our faith is rewarded with the desired outcome; sometimes it isn't.  So what is the purpose of being faithful?  What do we gain by hanging on to what we believe when there isn't always a positive response?

Faith means believing in something that we cannot see or prove by empirical means.  Do you believe?   Do you have faith?  Where does that take you in your life?  I think the delightful little print hanging on my wall is a reminder that I need to be more faithful and submit to (and be grateful for)  whatever God has in store for me....and hope that I've been worthy enough to receive it.

Quiz:  Are you?