A few thoughts

Currently reading: Spirituality at Work, The Screwtape Letters

So this isn't quite as newsy as some of my posts, but I thought it might be interesting to write something else for a change. I'm not used to writing so much that other people can read...it's a new experience for me. I guess it's a good thing for someone who wants to be a writer someday to begin sooner rather than later, and this is as good a forum as any, because I know that only a few of you are reading it anyways, and you're all good friends.

I've been thinking a lot about faith recently. Before I left home, Sara and I started a Beth Moore bible study that focuses on believing God and experiencing more faith, and as a result I have started thinking more about my own faith, and also seeing a lot more faith in action. Recently, when writing a reflection for the graduate program here, I found this quote in Benedict XVI's Spe Salvi:
"Faith gives life a new basis, a new foundation on which we can stand, one which relativizes the habitual foundation, the reliability of material income."

This may not seem to be a particularly significant quote to very many people, but maybe I can explain why it had such a huge impact on me. As part of the Beth Moore bible study, I am currently looking at my life up to this point and tracing the ways that God has been at work in my life since I was born or even before. And I came to the realization as I was writing that I barely ever do this. I seldom look back at my life through the lens of faith and see God at work in my very early childhood, but the truth is, He was setting me up for some pretty great things! This gets me to the quote. My father and mother made the decision to step out in faith long before I was even born, and they haved lived almost their whole lives on that foundation, not the foundation of material income. Of course this wasn't easy, and I'm certain that it wasn't always fun, but at the same time, what a blessing it has been for me to grow up with such godly parents. Their faith was always the most important thing in their lives, and as a result, I have gotten to see the fruits of having an active and living faith in God.

The quote also struck me when I started to look at some of the people closest to me and the decisions they are currently making with their lives. These decisions seem foolish to people who value material income as the only foundation for a life. Sara's decision to run a non-profit, Nicholas's decision to look into volunteerism, my decision to move to Yakima and teach in a Catholic school...these things make no sense. Except, that is, through the lens of faith. It also reminds me of the famous quote from Jim Elliot, a martyr: "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Obviously I'm not being called to give my life for believing God in terms quite so physical, but I am called to give my life and service in faith to God, trusting that He'll take care of the rest. He hasn't let me down so far.