The opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty. – Anne Lamott
Faith is resting in the uncertain. This is what I am learning.
As I have had this concept of Faith and uncertainty on my mind, I see it all over the place. My searching for certainty. My desire to know the specifics and how this will go, what the right step to take is, the right way, the right choice, the best… it can be endless. And often the “right”, the “best”, they are myths.
Faith is being OK with the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing.
Let’s be honest. There is much we won’t know in life. The future cannot be known. Life does not give us assurances. But yet we strive for certainty! Brene Brown in her reseach on Faith says “this work has forced me to see that it’s our fear of the unknown and our fear of being wrong that create most of our conflict and anxiety.” Yea. I get this more than I want to admit. The physical fear of wanting certainty in a world that is not certain.
This is not easy! Everything within my humanity cries “Wait! What if?!….”
(To face the fear I exercise a trick here I heard recently on NPR TED Radio Hour. – Ask “Why?” three times… and you can often get to the bottom.)
Why am I afraid of not knowing? Because uncertainty means unknown. Means there is a potential for danger to happen.
Why am I afraid of that danger? Because I think it will hurt.
Why am I afraid of pain? Because I think I cannot handle it and it’s not supposed to happen.
But there’s the faulty thinking. I can survive. Pain always happens in this world. The truth is we can survive danger. We can survive pain. We can survive mistakes. God uses all. If we keep surrendering our lives to him God uses all danger, all pain, everything for His good. We don’t need to know His will before living. We are called to live within his freedom.
Live in within His freedom by Faith and He aligns our life with His will.
Step by step. Surrender and seek Him. That’s all we need to do. Seek Him. Take a step. Seek Him again. Take another step. Seek Him. There’s no magic answer to this thing called Faith. There’s no one special path that we could miss if we are not careful. There is only the little way of trusting Faith. Of trusting Him – The one Who is certain.
We might, no, we will, make mistakes. We will forget to surrender. We will place our fears, our wants, our thoughts, before His freedom and His presence with us. In essence, we will be human.
But God’s bigger than that. There is grace. God is bigger than our little inability to be un-messed up.
Yea. Wow. Trials make us who we want to be.
So the next time you feel the physical grip of fear rise within you. Allow that to be a gentle teaching moment. Allow it to reveal to you your human desire to know/to be certain. Breathe into that feeling. That fear. And then choose to seek. To step. And to know Someone is holding you. Loving you. And making your life align with His will.
May we choose to live within the uncomfortable uncertainty by this beautiful thing called Faith.
(If you’ve read any of my posts this year, you might know already that I’m desiring to focus on Faith this year as a word to lead me and to focus on and hopefully grow in.
Also this year I’ve decided to re-read Brene Brown’s book called the Gifts of Imperfection. This book is one of my all time favorites. Full of so much wisdom and insight that you can’t just read it once. It is so rich this has to be more than the 3rd time I’m going through it. This time, to contemplate, to let it sink in, and hopefully to practice it’s truths.
So with Faith fresh as my focus, when I came to the “guidepost” of “Intuition and Trusting Faith” I was excited! I read the words with new eyes and saw so many details that rang completely true. Truer than anytime. Coincidental as it is, I was even listing on audio book to a book she quotes from in this chapter.
Brene Brown’s book is a must read in my mind!
Anne Lamott’s is simply enjoyable honesty and musings on life. )
