What does Faith mean to you?

When I was a little girl saying my prayers my Mom would always say if you don’t know what to pray for, always pray for more faith.  In my little girl mind I thought this meant that I obviously didn’t believe in God enough or that even if I did right now I probably wouldn’t at some point!  As I began to find my own way in this world, the organized religion that I had been brought up in did not seem to be a good fit for me.  No matter how hard I prayed for more faith, it simply was not working for me.  As soon as I let that go and started on my own spiritual path I found the “faith” that was before so elusive much easier to find.  For me “faith” is the belief that God/Spirit (whatever your word is) resides in each and every one of us and that we are all connected in a way that is much larger than the sum of any one of us.  This means that I trust in the Universe, that all that happens in my life and the lives of others is the way it is meant to be (for the greater good).  It doesn’t mean I sit back and let life happen to me, not at all (as anyone who knows me can attest to), but what it does mean is that I am able to accept all of the experiences, good and bad as necessary.  Necessary, for me to learn what I came into this lifetime to learn. I always say to myself, this is your path and this needs to happen for some reason so pay attention.  Learn what you need to learn, let go of what you need to let go of and always move forward.  Having faith also means you need to believe in yourself.  You need to know that you are capable of handling anything that life gives you (because you are!).  I used to be a worrier, but for the most part I don’t anymore (my children and puppy are sometimes exceptions!).  If I start to go back down that path I say “you will deal with the consequences when you need to” (90% of what we worry about never ever comes to pass).  When I have been faced with dealing with something extremely difficult, it doesn’t matter if I worried about it incessantly or was caught by surprise the pain is the same, so why spend all of that energy worrying? Channel it into something productive, like living and loving!!  I encourage you to take some time to consider what “faith” means to you, find a way to reconcile it with your spiritual beliefs and enjoy the peace that it brings into your life!!