I recently saw a sign outside a church that read, “Faith: Evidence of things unseen.” It was one of those changeable-letter signs with a dim backlight. The kind where you half expected there to be a flashing arrow along the top, pointing to the entrance. At first, I was like, right on. But then it hit me – that phrase is not totally accurate.
Faith, as I learned it anyway, is actually the belief in things unseen. In other words, believing in something even without evidence. In fact, Merriam-Webster defines faith this way: “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” Another definition simply says that faith is “complete trust.”
As a human being – and a Christian – trust is one of my biggest challenges. It’s not like something significant or horrifying happened and caused me to lose faith in human kind. It’s just that trust doesn’t come easily for me. Especially in my most intimate relationships.
It dawns on me (like one big flashing arrow atop a church sign) that when I do not trust God, I am ignoring one of the basic tenets of Christianity – which is to have complete and absolute faith. Likewise, when I don’t trust my human counterparts, in many ways, I’m failing to put things into God’s hands as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I know better than to trust unreasonably. (This bumper sticker has always stuck with me: “Trust in God but lock your doors.”) But maybe I could learn to have a little more faith. Maybe things don’t always have to be in my control. And maybe, just maybe, life is easier when you just let yourself believe.
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Editor’s note: I originally wrote this entry for my myspace blog back in August. A few days later, I received this comment from an amazing woman named Susan: “One of the most difficult things to do is to let go, trust and have faith. Yet when we do amazing things can happen.”
All I can say is she was right…And we’ve been together ever since.
Unscripted 