At this exact moment I'm sitting in my very quiet living room on a blissful Saturday afternoon. I admit, you won't see this until Tuesday because I've been preposting out of a lack of faith that I would be able to have enough faith to post about faith every single day for 40 days. Make sense?
But today, sitting in my quiet living room, it is a blissfully beautiful day outside. I've cleaned my home and done laundry - which includes hanging my sheets on the line outside then hours later pulling them off while I sniff the sunny aroma of the sheets. And it still makes me grin that I didn't use a dryer.
There's a man playing catch with his son in the school playground next door. A cat is lying in the sunny spot on the ledge of my porch. A man is riding his bike through the parking lot next to my house while he whistles to his dog. Birds are chirping. The church bells are gonging a song I've heard them gong before, but I still don't know the name of the song.
As I was putting away the now clean laundry, I couldn't help but think that in these quiet times it's so easy to just be preoccupied with whatever you're doing that day. Or maybe future plans. Maybe just preoccupied with the book you're reading.
But in the last hour or so my mind could only think of how peaceful life is right now and how thankful I was to God for it. These days, these beautiful peaceful days come only because God has brought the good into my life. Every good gift is from above. And I'm thankful for this gift.
People always imagine faith to be something that is used in the trials, when you're challenged or struggling with something. Faith is for when things hurt. Faith is for when things don't make sense and you're ready to call it quits. Faith is for when you lose your job, or God calls you to a life you're nervous about.
But faith is the substance of things hoped for. Evidence of things unseen. Sure you may need to hold your faith tightly on the hard days so you don't fall; but I wonder if it isn't easier to fall as we ignore that substance on the cheerful sunny days. We set aside the evidence in exchange for plans with a friend or an hour playing x-box. When we feel safe we're more prone to let that life-giving faith wonder around the edges of our life.
I suppose that's why I wanted to make a special point of my faith in this hour. This beautiful, carefree hour. My faith is still of something hoped for. I haven't held onto my faith for this day. No, my faith isn't the substance of a carefree day like this hoped for. It is not the evidence of a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
No, my faith is in God. My faith looks up. My faith looks up even beyond carefree days and beauty.
May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire! As thou hast died for me, O may my love to thee pure, warm, and changeless be, a living fire!
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