As this is my first ever blog entry, I thought it would be fitting to write about two things that have always amazed and magnetized me as well as kept me wondering about them. They have given me reasons to continue going and to push forward. I'm thankful that having faith and being hopeful remain to be inevitable and real choices in life.
Every now and then, we find our faiths being challenged. Sometimes it can be faith in our selves, faith in the goodness of other people, and maybe even faith in God. Other times, it can be about hanging on to the belief that things will turn out well, or persisting despite many challenges, or not losing the desires we have kept within our hearts. Whatever it may be and whoever we are, I believe there is always that option for us to live in faith, with faith. It may change in intensity, it can waver, it may even be lost sometimes. But these changes, these shifts and these losses mean that faith can deepen, it can grow and it can be gained and regained.
I don’t know how intertwined they are but somehow, I can’t imagine faith without hope or hope without faith. There seems to be a connection between them that makes one very possible, even so strong, in the presence of the other. That while we have faith, hope also dwells in what we believe in. And when we hope, there is always faith in the possibilities for which we hope.
However, even when they often or they should exist together, there are times when I still do feel some confusion about them and I question what they are, especially in the presence of each other. Faith seems to be certain, whereas hope is unsure. Hope may be light, while faith can be heavy with its conviction. Faith is “whatever may be” but hope is “please let it be.” So, are they contradictory? Is hope simply the softer faith and is faith simply blind hope?
If there is an answer to what may be confusing and contrasting about faith and hope, it may be found in what is real to us:
- Where do we put our faith? What do we believe in?
- When do we hope? Until when do we hope?
And in the answers to these questions, we know that our faiths and our hopes rely on who and what we are as persons, what we desire, what we aspire for. That the confusion between the two is drawn by the lines of connection between our hearts and our minds, our openness to chance and our desire to control, and our understanding of the means to the ends and the means to those which may be endless.
Faith and hope find themselves in the presence of each other. It may be impossible to tear them apart. But the good news is? Even when they may be weakened or lost to us, we are always invited to be in their company because they are actual decisions we can make based on the realities we face and the realities we want to make. And while we always are called to have faith and be hopeful, there is a chance that we can find and grow more with them.
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