I've always tried to think if there was one message I could grasp...one word to live by...one thing to prove...what would that thing be? After much debate, I chose love. I'm so serious that I have the word tattooed on my arm. In it's purest form if everyone followed it to a tee...I feel like it would solve all the problems of the world. Greatest commandment=love. "All you need is love." It was the base of the hippie movement. It knows no bounds. Conquers all evils in every classic John Cusack movie there ever was. And all that jazz. Would you steal or lie or cheat or murder, be mean to anyone if you truly loved them...no (of course this were to assume that we were all perfect in a perfect world). So naturally my favorite Bible verse is "...faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." I kinda always understood the love part. Only recently did I get the part about hope...without it, there are no dreams to see things bigger and better...but I kinda jumped right over the faith thing. I didn't understand the concept. I always felt that anything that was worth something could be used universally. Like the world was meant to run a certain way and if you take religion aside, no matter of your upbringing or age, it should work...so I didn't see how faith could fit in my little theory. Faith is such a churchy word (or at least in my upbringing...it might as well say in the webster "FAITH: see your local church for explanation"). So to me I didn't get how that word could fit in universally for all to work. Then in talking to one of my best buds one day...let's call him Mr. Down on His Luck to save his privacy...he said something that struck me and made me understand the concept of faith aside from religion. He said that talking to a certain friend always breathed a life into him and made him feel better and not so down on himself. And I asked him why. He said no matter how bad things got he would always have a positive outlook in regards to speaking with him and about his situation. Basically he never gave up on him or talked down to him or saw him in a different light or hinted to the fact that he was any different than anyone else, even if that was the truth of the moment. He always had faith that he was a good guy and would come around and find his own place and purpose again. And I'll be honest...I'd been friends with Mr. Down on His Luck for years. We had a special bond. I realized that in all the years of knowing him at probably his worst, I never undoubtedly had 100% faith in him that there would be a better day for him. I always spoke the truth and saw him as he was at the moment and accepted him for who he was. I'd listen to his problems and offer solutions but never negate the fact that he had shit going on that needed to be fixed. Being the honest person I am, I never shied away from pointing it out every now and then, like he didn't realize what was going on. Like maybe by acknowledging the flaws he would suddenly see the light and fix them. Though everything has it's place and honesty really is the way to go, I forgot how important the words spoken have the power to uplift and heal. Sadly he's not the only victim of my doing...I do this quite a lot to the people I care about. (I'd like to take this moment and apologize to all those people...seriously...anything I've said was all out of love...I didn't get the faith part yet.) Thankfully though it made me realize what faith is all about. It's about seeing what is, but realizing that's not all it can be, and speaking things into existence that will uplift the soul. Have you ever noticed that when you talk about things they come up later in conversation or life, almost as if someone heard you? It happens to me all the time, but only when I'm paying attention and looking for the still small moments do I realize they are there. It's like when you were little and someone talked about monsters in your closet and all of a sudden, what you never knew was suddenly apparent and created something out of nothing and you did silly things like make your 5 year younger brother turn on all the lights for you before going downstairs to bed. Or if you prayed for snow so you didn't have to go to school the next day, and you woke up and it was all serene and fluffy white outside. (Both stories come from my real life experiences). It's kinda like that. Words have this sort of power to come to fruition...they carry meaning behind them and can be used for good or evil. And so that is how I finally understood this little word called faith outside the context of religion. It is just as universal as hope and love.
PS: Thank you Mr. Up on Cloud 9 for teaching me this little lesson. I'm forever grateful dear. ;)
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