Faith Is Not For Fools

 Faith is not for fools.  This is my thought tonight.  Wow, I must be experiencing this religious side of myself that I didn’t know existed. Maybe I was meant to find a connection with my higher power.  

It’s a thing that doesn’t need to be scientifically proven.  It’s a thing that guides a person and helps them to be on the right path even through times of uncertainty.  

Dear 3x great mother Marilla.  I feel you and I thank you for your love.  I’m sorry that your experience of motherhood was so filled with pain.  I’m sorry that you felt abandoned by God.  I couldn’t just think about you in a disconnected way when I learned about you through my family history research.  My connection with you is real.  Your spirit is there. When I can feel and connect with you, it is a gift.  You are a person of strong love and resilience.  I am very grateful and appreciative to be your 3x great granddaughter.  I feel that you have a lot to share on the topic and experience of faith.

Yes yes, I know that my cousin Beth is special.  You are a proud 3x great grandmother of a pastor.  You are proud of her connection with faith.  Perhaps you would like to share that faith is not something that is believed in by fools, or people with gaps in their intelligence or people who are experiencing delusions.  I feel your pride and love for your 3x great granddaughter Beth.  If I want to believe in my experience of connection with you, I need to just keep listening.  This is how a person grows in faith and strengthens their connection with it.  Faith is something that is received through listening and feeling.  Faith doesn’t require scientific proof.  Faith is not irrational.  Faith is something to be experienced and there are forms of evidence that can provide personal understanding that cannot be found through scientific channels.

I’m sorry Richard Dawkins, I will have to disagree with you.  I did appreciate your point that gaps in scientific knowledge cannot magically be construed as being evidence of the existence of a higher power.  

It is also true though, I believe, that gaps in scientific or personal spiritual understanding about the experience of faith and the existence of a higher power cannot be construed as being evidence of their non existence or invalidity.

I also believe that it’s all above acceptance.  People who choose faith and the belief in a higher power and those that who don’t can coexist peacefully and have respect for each others beliefs.  The same should be the case with people who practice different religions.  I believe that respect and acceptance of people’s own beliefs and paths, when they are not doing harm to others, is the best path to peaceful coexistence.