Sometimes life goes on for days and then all the sudden it hits you. A tragedy or a loss or a major setback: a test of your will, it comes out of nowhere.
And, every decade or so, it happens to us all at the same time, like the financial crisis of ‘08 and ‘09, like Vietnam, WW2 in the ‘40s, the Great Depression in the ‘30s—Coronavirus in 2020.
But only in difficulty do we stop long enough to assess where we are.
It’s in the valley we have the greatest vision.
It’s then that we clamor for meaning, even to the point of putting signs in our yard for something not related to politics or sales.
“Faith over Fear.” The signs were everywhere.
But what is faith?
Is it a virtue or a discipline? Can you possess it or just express it?
Faith is surely a biblical concept, but it applies to every valley—even the most seasoned stock broker has to have faith that tomorrow will be okay.
Two distinctions: someone’s “faith” often refers to their religious beliefs or core values, while “having faith” is an expression of the virtue underlying all knowledge.
Let’s focus on the second one.
Faith is the catalyst for vision.
We run around with our eyes closed, or we have faith, there’s no other option.
It’s a terrifying thing about being human, that as you learn, you think you don’t need faith. There is a reason the super smart people in the world either go crazy or lose their bearings on reality.
The more we know, the more tempted we are to think we don’t need faith.
But faith isn’t the safety net underneath our brains, to catch us when we fall; it’s the window through which we look when we think about anything at all.
Faith and reason are married; they aren’t enemies.
When our faith is betrayed, we turn to reason solely to solve matters. This is an indication of who we trust, who we actively have faith in the most: ourselves. I am guilty of this. And yet turning to ourselves to legitimize faith ruins it.
We can’t know all the answers. It’s faith that allows us to be okay with that.
Some things we are okay trusting: our hot water heaters not to explode, our kids not to jump out a window, our businesses not to collapse.
Other things we refuse to trust.
The valley is the place where the lights are flipped on and the parts of you you clutch control of get the spotlight.
When we lose faith, we lose sanity and become neurotic, worried, anxious, in need of either sedation or a new foundation to stand on.
Faith is a window, that’s it. Through the window you either see yourself standing there like Don Quixote trying to solve life’s problems and keep yourself from pain, or you see something else, God perhaps, or Pollyanna’s sheer optimism.
When you are playing the blues, when evil threatens to undermine your life, have faith.
Let the valley bring you vision, and as you look through the window you will find all the places of fear, anxiety, and neuroses come from placing your trust in yourself—to sustain, to define, to be lovely.
As God weaves a blue strand into the fabric of your life, we must learn to embrace it, to see it in faith.
It’s the only reasonable way.