Faith fuels so much. Faith serves as a catalyst and a multiplier for any and all of our other virtues. Do you want to be more courageous or have more trust? Shore up your faith. Want to practice more acceptance or promote patience? Follow your path faithfully.
Faith is unseen but felt, faith is strength when we feel we have none, faith is hope when all seems lost.
-Catherine Pulsifer
Faith can be one of the finest hills to stand on. It can serve as the eye in the middle of a hurricane. When all else is swirling and storming, faith can be your safe haven. We do not see the bigger picture at play, but we can rely on faith to see us through to our best next step again and again. It can drive enough direction and light our way just enough each and every time. It may not always make sense to us then and there, but have faith.
Faith is believing that the outcome will be what it should be, no matter what it is.
-Colette Baron-Reid
Hindsight and greater perspective can eventually dawn on us if we are open to it. When we are in the middle of stressful events and traumatic moments, it can very difficult to see the forest for the trees. Yet, when we invest time and effort in practicing effective and valuable retrospection, we can better understand why we dealt with certain difficulties and what we gained and learned as a result of facing and overcoming tricky challenges. The fire of faith can be fierce at first, but it also forges and fine-tunes our finest mettle.
There are moments when tribulations occur in our lives, and we cannot avoid them. But they are there for some reason… Only when we have overcome them do we understand why they were there.
-Paulo Coelho
One of the core components of faith that I have come to recognize and adore is love, an all-encompassing and all-inclusive love for all. My love for God is reaching new heights now, my love for myself is at an all-time high, and my love for all beings is radiating so far and wide. I do not believe that we are here to judge and hate others at all. It honestly feels like a waste of time. We finally fulfill our faith when we can freely flow in full love.
You will not complete your faith until you love one another.
-Muhammad
God has given us many faiths but only one world in which to co-exist. May your work help all of us to cherish our commonalities and feel enlarged by our differences.
-Jonathan Sacks
You may not grasp this concept well or faithfully yet, but I know how firmly and peacefully it is starting to settle within me. I hope you will begin to explore and practice more faith to feel something similar if not identical. My anxiety is at an all-time low. My emotions will still ramp up at times, but I find them easier to navigate and quickly quell compared to times in the past when they would linger and last for far too long. I am now better at letting them guide my thoughts and actions, not controlling me unconsciously.
Faith brings you stability, centeredness, calmness, and love.
-Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by Love.
-Pope Francis
I am building and shaping my foundational faith bit by bit; I will continue to construct it as I continue to live it because it is more than likely a never-ending process. While it is firm in some places, it is fluid and flexible in others. Many features will be refined in due time.
May you find a loving faith forevermore because, as you fuel it, it will fuel you.
Maybe it is wise. Maybe it is dumb. Time will tell.