Pearls of Wisdom

God speaks to us in many ways. Yes, it is true. We all have the capacity to hear, we just need to tune in.  Lately, I have been feeling that God is challenging me in one area: faith.  What is faith? Do I have faith? If not, how do I acquire it?  The dictionary definition of faith is as follows: the complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  Based on this, and stripped of all pretense, I can honestly say that I do not have faith.  Oh, I believe, but I don't live my life with complete trust and confidence in God. So what to do? Hebrews 11 describes faith in this way, " Now faith is the confidence of what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) I've heard this verse many times but I have just caught on to something new. Do you know what precedes faith? Hope.  Hope is the beginning of faith.  Hope says it can happen. Faith says it will happen. Years ago, God showed me that he was going to teach me to trust. I was uncertain about this. I always thought that you either have trust for someone or you don't.  How can you possibly learn trust? Well he told me how. With the moving of a little pinky. Then the moving of all the fingers which leads to the moving of the hand. Then the moving of the elbow, which leads to the moving of the entire arm. Pretty soon my whole body would move in trust. The same with faith.  And it all begins with how I think. If I have hope, my thinking would be more positive. And the more positive thinking I have the more positive energy I put out. This in turn results in positive outcome. Now, Jesus said if we had faith like that of a mustard seed, we would be able to move mountains. I want that. I want the kind of faith that can heal the sick and  set people free.

Now allow me to tell you a story about an earring.  I have a favorite pair of earrings and I love them. I always do a check throughout the day to make sure they are still secure in my ear.  You see, I have a tendency to lose an earring. Never both always just one.  Well today I lost my earring at work. My favorite pair. I retraced my steps I shook my hair out, I did a little jiggle to make sure it wasn't caught on my clothing. Nothing.  But I decided to do a little experiment.  I decided to envision myself finding my earring and rejoicing when I did.  Again I retraced my steps and shook my hair and did a little jiggle. Nothing. A couple of hours pass by and as I was leaving the department for a bathroom break, I started thinking on one of the parables of Jesus. Specifically the one in which he likened the kingdom of heaven to a man who found a great treasure and rejoiced over his find. In my mind I was thinking this treasure was a lone pearl. Well for whatever reason I readjusted my jacket and what should pop to the ground? My earring. I did indeed rejoice. Not just for finding that which was lost, but for finding my treasure,my faith. Perhaps it is not to the stage where I can move mountains, but it is greater than it was this morning. Who knows what possibilities lie within tomorrow?