“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we can not see.” – Hebrews 11:1
Faith has always been one of the hardest things for me. While I am an optimist, an idealist, and definitely spiritual, I have such a time just leaning in to faith. The very nature of faith, believing in something we can’t see, is what makes it so very difficult for me to grasp.
Perhaps this is the heart of the matter as to why spirituality is so tricky. Our culture wants us to cling to material things. We are drawn to consume. We define who we are by things. When I have a hard day, I want to shop or eat or drink or buy something. Silence or meditation or reflection don’t seem like they would give me satisfaction. Likely because in the quietness of those “activities” I don’t see any action. There is no “doing.” There is just “being.”
But faith doesn’t rest in any of that. The real mystery of faith is that we can’t see it, but it’s there. And even when we can’t see it or touch it, it’s what sees us through.
To me, faith is a lot like love. I can’t see my mother’s love, but it is real and it is constant. I can’t touch love in a real or true sense, but I know it exists. When you give in to love, when you give more love, the paradox is that you get even more in return.
I think faith has similar properties. The more time I give to faith, the more I learn and the deeper it becomes. In those moments, I learn even more about myself. Faith has the uncanny ability to teach us more about God, and more about ourselves in the same moment.
My Mom and I went on a walk behind AT&T Park today. This is the San Francisco skyline from the marina there.