Faithful times

Photo by Dana Leigh Cohen

Author’s note: This week’s letter is addressed to something which we all have in common and exploring it from a different approach and perhaps add new insights.

Dear Faith,

There aren’t many things one can possess which is as interesting and complex as You. It doesn’t matter if one subscribes to religion or not, every living and functioning human cannot live without You. In fact, Your presence is so pervasive many of us are guilty of frequently taking You for granted.

Sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint Your precise meaning. You’re more than just hope; however, compiling facts to prove Your existence is beyond our capabilities. You are embraced by all, but no two of Your hugs feel the same. Poets, philosophers, and religious scholars have tried to describe You, yet no words will ever epitomize Your value better than personal experience can.

You give us comfort without even realizing Your calming touch. And without You, life would closely resemble chaos and anarchy. Do You even realize, Faith, how much this world depends on You?

It is not sufficient simply to say You are a part of our lives. You demand more than mere words alone. Your influence must inspire action from us Faith, otherwise it would be no more than idle words, empty promises, or false claims.

You have the uncanny ability to grow on us. The more we depend on You, the more vital You become to our daily lives. Unfortunately, sometimes people feel as though You have deserted them, leaving them suspicious and questioning whether they ought to engage with You in the future.

Because You were born of kindness and good intentions, it must also be troubling when others willfully abuse You for their own gain. Somehow, they feel they are entitled to twist Your objectives and turn them into instruments of malevolence. They purposely distort Your compassion as a means of usurping power to make people feel ashamed by using their crafty lies. Eventually they insist and demand others recognize You precisely with the extreme intent in which they have perverted Your virtuous endeavors.

Their lies are dissonance to Your ears. Their deceptions are lesions to your skin. Their insults are sharp thorns to your touch.

But through all this agony, Faith, You remain. Despair, anguish, nor sadness are no contest for Your strength. No matter how much humans abuse You, Your resilience prevails. You will never lose sight of Your importance to the survival of our species.

Now more than ever Faith, our world needs to embrace You with a broader yet tighter understanding of Your original, loving intentions. While as individuals we cling to You, we must also become more acceptable of how others choose to hold You.

You see, Faith, I should be able to trust You enough to know You will always love me no matter how I perceive others as they gaze upon You. No one can change our relationship unless I myself give them that power.

This is your magic, Faith. Your relationship with everyone is as individual as each snowflake. Ironically, we believe You have the power in this relationship but truthfully, it’s more one sided and is skewed toward us humans. It is possible we will use the excuse of believing You have the power, but truthfully, whatever our beliefs are about You, it is only because we choose to have them.

You do not exist solely for our gain, but You would gladly reward us when You see fit. Oddly, the very moment we believe we are entitled to compensation because of our relationship to You, that is when we forfeit the privilege of claiming You as our friend.

Over the years, Faith, my beliefs about You have changed. Early on, I believed everyone needed to feel the same way about You as I did. However, the more kindness, compassion, and love became vital to my everyday life, I also learned You do not look the same in my eyes as You do in others, and that is completely acceptable.

You never asked to be the cause for war, but many have blatantly disregarded Your wish. You should never be the reason people are degraded, dismissed, or disgraced, yet some crave and seize every and any opportunity to do so.

If there were some way, Faith, You could teach us the importance and help us become aware of being able to accept the way others embrace you, it would spark a tremendous change. As our planet becomes smaller, the need for this acceptance becomes greater, and the slightest deviation could exponentially put our species and our planet at grave risk.

Finally, I wanted to thank You, Faith. Thank You for Your real mission. Your true purpose. Thank You for not giving up on humanity after the way it has abused You over the millennia and refused to hold You in the light by which You originally chose to shine.

But I do have faith You will prevail. That Your original goal of exalting humankind and creating a more caring and compassionate race will soon illuminate more brilliantly in our hearts and continue inspiring others to shine their lights even brighter.

I will continue to do my part to sing your praises, Faith, for as long as my heart allows.

Sincerely,

John Dunia

My thanks to Dana Cohen for the beautiful picture. Dana is a friend of mine and an extremely talented Interior designer, graphic designer, and photographer.