Living by Faith

“We live by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7

For my 70th birthday, my daughter, who lives in South Africa, painted me this picture. In explaining why she had used the text from 2 Corinthians as part of it, her words, as I remember them, were: “I choose these words because we see each other very seldom, but have faith the the other is there even when we can’t see them.” For her, they encompassed what she was experiencing living half-a-world away from her family.

Yet one of the common expressions of our time is ‘Seeing is believing’ which first came into use in 1639 according to Wikipedia. Like 'Doubting Thomas' we will only believe that which we can see. How many times have you used, or heard someone else use the phrase ‘I’ll believe that when I see it!’ Often this is used referring to someone else’s promise to do something unlike what they would do normally such as give up FaceBook or chocolate for Lent. The feeling seems to be that we need to ‘see’ something for it to be true.

Then there are the things that demand both sight and faith. We can see when the gas gauge in the car shows the tank is on empty but we have faith that we still have enough gas left to get us to the gas station easily. A faith that comes from past experience!

Have you ever thought about what you take on faith; that the air will be fit to breathe, that your body will continue to replace those cells that have died, that when you open your mouth words will come out, that you are loved, that you will wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night? All those things and many many more we do each and every day, in faith. We can’t see them happening, they just are. Without them our lives change. Our world is turned upside down until we become comfortable with the new reality and again have things that we can ‘take by faith’.

I occasionally use the phrases, “I would like a little boredom….. ” and/or ‘I don’t like surprises!” Both of these indicate to me, in part, that those things I had faith would happen failed to do so and so my equilibrium was upset. I need some time to regain my 'faith'.

Faith is built over time: faith in a person, faith in a process, faith in a belief system. We can lose faith as well. It takes but an instant to lose faith in someone or something and a much longer time to rebuild it. I suspect that it can never be rebuilt to the level it was before because the initial relationship has changed with that loss of faith.

My daughter, living half a world away, lives on faith that her family and friends are still part of her life, faith that is helped along by the modern day miracles of telephone, email, texting and Facebook. Everyone of us lives our lives in faith as well, faith that those things which support and enrich us will continue to be an unseen part of our existence.

What are some of the unseen things that you have faith in?

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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