For me, faith has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the little wonders of everyday life that keep the engine within me humming, “it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Here are a few of my favorite everyday things that give me faith:
Trees. I can wake up totally depressed, look out my bedroom window and see a canopy of trees, and feel a little better.
Writing my novel. Even thought this is the worst time in the history of the written word for fiction.
Holding NIC babies. I’ve started volunteering once a week at Seattle Children’s Hospital, playing with kids and holding babies. I really love holding babies, and I wasn’t sure that I would.
Seeing my sons grow up. Both of my boys–Drew, 16, and Justin, 19, are truly cool human beings. I love them and I really like them!
Yoga. Experiencing gratitude for the body I too often berate for being “not perfect.”
My 49th birthday next week… and then 50! I’ve always thought my fifties will be the decade when I really come into my own.
I made half as much money this year as last year, and it’s okay. I’m extremely grateful that my family still has everything we need.
Walking in the woods with my Duck Tolling Retriever. Kodi finds joy and wonder in everything. He’ll so dang happy, it makes me happy.
Going to sleep with my husband of twenty-five years still by my side. Or fifteen years since we count our Elvis wedding in Vegas as our official wedding…but that’s another story.
I have more I could add to this list… and will! What gives you faith?
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This is faith in practice. Faith that through the ups and downs that everything is going to be just right. Thanks for the reminder.
A walk by the ocean. For me, nothing beats living a quick walk from the beach and waves.
The unfolding of the seasons has always stirred the coals of faith in the little fire of hope and anticipation I keep going – even in the hardest days. The continuum of birth, full bloom, harvest, the great sleep are an assurance to me that although nothing lasts forever, everything in some way comes back.
In the harvest season now, moving from our days of salad and fresh fruit, cool meals – we move into the miracle of root vegetables, stews stirred long over a flame, the hearty treat of these kinds of foods. I think it is the same for our souls. For a time we long for walks through high green grass and trees hanging their boughs overhead – green leaves of shade for cover from a bright sun. And just as eagerly, we drag our feet through those same leaves, now fallen, leaves now in shades of gold, garnet, red and chartreuse.
My faith is encouraged by the change of seasons. Although completely different in their expression, they remain steadfastly the same; rooted, it seems, in a proclamation that life is about movement toward something. That if we move, risk even, we are capable of continually evolving.
Soon, we will be in winter. A time, both in the liturgical church and nature, which exists as an invitation to turning inward. A space for self examination, the opportunity to allow death to what has not worked for us, to drop our seeds deep into the ground and wait, again, for rebirth.
All of this, I would suggest, is the implication found in faith, that the best is yet to come and that more will be revealed. All in it’s own time, all depending on our trust and, yes, faith . . . that bud and bloom, harvest and long rest are intrinsic to our lives on earth.
What gives me faith is knowing that all I really need to do is take the next indicated step.
Homecaring my 96-year-old mother, three years ago, put me in touch with the universe in a new way. I have actually written a book about the experience, hard to explain here in a few words. Nature renews my faith somehow, as Skye Leslie noted above. The ocean, on a day to day basis. Family.
I love your list. This was the perfect thing for me to read to start my day.
Knowing that my children and loved ones are safe; spending a day doing things that give me pleasure or even if they don’t, just getting them done; seeing the sky and water; knowing that tomorrow will come…just some of the things that give me faith.
music, and the music of my friends’ voices. I’m also with Melanie about those walks by the water.
The infectious optimism of Mr. Brinson, my youngest daughter’s gym teacher, as he greets the parents and children every morning in front of the school.
I think that practicing this kind of gratitude for what you have can make a tremendous difference in your life. Lovely post.
That is so wonderful that you volunteer to hold NICU babies. I get faith just in reading that you do that. Thanks for this post. It really helps me remember the important things.
Speaking of faith, my daughter just ran inside yelling “Mom, come here! There’s something special outside!”
I ran outside with her to see a gorgeous rainbow…a sure sign that there’s more to life than what we can touch or what we can “prove.”
Thanks for sharing your faith. I love your list!
Spending time with my little brother. Admiring the Boston skyline as the Red line train crosses over the Charles River. Holding my Mom’s cat.
And recently, I was feeling kind of down, so I took a book to the park to read. A dog (clearly not a rabid dog, since he had collars and was well groomed) came up to my blanket sat next to me. Then he put his head on my knees and kept me company for awhile. It was very sweet.
I can relate to many things on your list–and they too give me faith–walking the dog in the morning to clear my head, seeing my husband of 13 years asleep beside me, snuggling my children close.
Wonderful idea to think about…
Thanks for all of the wonderful, thoughtful comments. They definitely give me faith to keep at this thing!
What a great post! I find it so easy to become a Debbie Downer, but reading posts like this and then thinking of my own small blessings really helps.
In addition to what you wrote? You did a great job. Many of those things gives me faith as well.
Taking my dogs for a walk in the morning. Sitting on my covered porch when we get home with a cup of coffee and my newspaper.
The birds in the morning, the stars in the evening, a stranger’s smile as we pass all lift my spirit…oh yeah and the squirrels who no longer run when I go out to sread bird seed and nuts but come out and sit a few yards away now they trust me!
Great blogsite! Thanks for reminding me of all the wonders around us and how they raise me up!
A friend, who had been unemployed for several months, just got a job..not just ANY job, but THE job he wanted and prayed for…in the midst of a recession. Which exemplifies to me that there is something greater, bigger, deeper and more profound going on than the nightly news reports or understands. Divine Order. Connection to Source. God.