For those of you who have never joined us on Sunday mornings for Love & Inspiration on Zoom, we invite you to consider joining us. I know some of you go to places of worship, but for those of you who do not, call in. Why? Because during these calls, we have deep and profound conversations and we would love to share them with you. This month, we have been talking about faith. Yesterday’s conversation kept coming back to what faith is. Is it a possession, as in something we have and possess? Or is faith a relationship with our Higher Power, however, we define that. It is this conversation that inspired me to make it the Sharing Time question for the week and the focus of my blog.
So often we hear people talk about how much faith they have as if faith is a possession, something one owns. So if faith is a possession, what is it you really possess? What we came to yesterday, is that faith as a possession is about possessing a trust in your Higher Power, however, you define that. So how does one possess trust in anyone or anything?
In my own life, I have come to realize that trust is not something I possess, but something I develop through the building of a relationship with someone or something. Being able to trust in the Divine comes from me having developed a relationship with the Ultimate Consciousness, the one some call God. Developing a relationship with God, like developing a relationship with anyone, is something that develops over time. The more intimately you come to know someone, the more you can recognize their presence in your life. I can tell when my wife is not doing well, just by the way she opens the door. I can tell when a friend of mine is in the room without ever coming down the hallway by the smell of her perfume. I can tell which of my friends has their hands on my back by the way it feels. I have developed such closeness with my friends that I can recognize them not just by seeing them but by experiencing them through all my senses.
If we can trust in our senses to speak to us about those we love, can we not trust our senses to help us experience when the Divine is in our presence. Is our relationship with God so intimate that we can see God in the light which beams through the window in the morning, that we can smell God in the freshly mowed grass, that we can hear God in the symphony of the raindrops on the world, that we can taste God in that freshly brewed cup of morning coffee, or that we can feel God in the morning dew on our feet when we walk barefoot in the grass early in the morning?
Does experiencing and being aware of the infinite presence of the Divine in each situation remind me that I can have faith in the one who is ever present for me, even when it may not look like things are going well? Can I see the Divine reflected in those who surround me and perhaps more importantly am I aware of how the Divine is present within me? If the Divine is in me, then how can I not trust the relationship I have with the Divine and the Divine that lives within me, guiding every step and thought of my life? As my trust in God deepens, doesn’t my faith in God deepen as well? Can we say the same our relationship with possessions? These are just a few things to think about as we wind up our focus this month on the spiritual practice of faith.