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There are some quandaries that come with finding and establishing faith that are fascinating. It seems true that when we change our thoughts, the things around us change. We all know change is hard, although I have to say it seems easier with faith. If we start to really commit to believing in Good or God (i.e., having some faith), it becomes the foundation and strength for making important changes. We become willing to confront our insecurities, our perspectives that undermine us, or our choices that are problematic because we can include hope for a brighter, better fate and a more hopeful future in our projections.
As I have spent more and more time with prayer and meditation as lynchpins in my life, as I have decided that if I have a problem, God will solve it (check out my hook while my DJ revolves it - ha!), so too has my ability to confront my fears or the problematic areas of my life. I have help and hope now, which makes it all easier.
It is strange when we start to make new choices or believe we have other, perhaps even better options. If they could see the internal working of my brain, my friends and family might think I had gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. I do not walk among a lot of believers. In fact, I often feel surrounded by a bunch of cynical, somewhat miserable atheists (God love ‘em).
I attended an event yesterday in my same body, but with a new mind. I feel very committed to Good. I even asked for God’s grace to get me through dynamics that felt like perilous territory before my arrival. As an aside, I barely know what God’s grace actually even is or means (Wikipedia has a nice little write up here) but I asked for it anyway. I told myself that God was attending the party with me and it would unfold exactly as it should, even if it felt different or uncomfortable in the moment. If I had faith and wanted to really implement it, I should try to believe that it would all unfold exactly as it needed to.
And I got the help I needed. Put another way, I had the strength to feel better and make better choices with a different mindset, even though the circumstances and people surrounding me had not changed. This is not the only activity or event where this is happening, by the way. The thing with faith is we carry it around with us as an internal mindset, so it is everywhere we go.
I was more conscious of and somewhat fascinated by the negativity in the hearts and souls of others in attendance (not all, but some) and I found myself praying for their repair. This is another benefit of having faith. We are less apt to get involved in fixing people or changing them as an act of self-importance or feeling forced to take on everything alone. That work is up to them and their relationship with Good or God, but we can pray for them and live as an example of what happens with faith in better outcomes or a brighter future.
When asked how I was fairing, it felt almost embarrassing to gush about my good life and all the hope I have for the future. I could go down a rabbit hole talking about the dark times we live in and all the cultural frameworks that seem devoted to preventing the worst, stockpiling resources for the few at the expense of many, and just a general scarcity mindset, but I would rather leave this all on a high note and say that faith does not have to be complicated. It really can just start with a willingness to believe that we are worthy of Good. The sole purpose of this blog is to just help people start there. What we all do with it from there is up to us and God.