Hello everyone! In reading my dear Khouzhan Delilah's post about "I'm Losing Faith" I felt it was a good time to repost this that I has posted a few years ago at Easter. It isn't Easter yet, obviously, but faith has no season.
Faith is not an easy task! Most of all I believe you should have faith in yourself before anything else! :-) After that, the rest of what you have faith in is up to you!
Love, Mambo
---------------------
REPRINTED FROM 2008: Greetings friends! Of course, as many of us celebrate the Easter holiday today, I cannot help but have my thoughts turn to Spring, renewal, and another chance to grow something wonderful. Every year at this time, I feel refreshed and renewed of spirit - just by the very fact that the plants are starting to bud, my mother-in-law in preparing her garden for the Victory feast that she grows every year, and I do my annual Easter egg hunt for my grandchildren.
Resurrection is also an integral part of the thoughts of Easter and spring. The story of the resurrection of Christ reminds me that faith is a powerful tool in our lives. If one is a true believer in the Christian faith, then you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven! That is a powerful faith!
One of the challenges we often have with faith is it is one of those things that no one can truly explain successfully. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
I have spoken many times about how easy it is to have any kind of faith when things are going well, but when things are not going well our faith seems to lag. We wonder if there is anyone anywhere actually out there listening to our pleas! Is there where you are right now? Is you faith flagging? Questioned? Lost altogether? Can your faith be resurrected? Or will it just lie dormant until things get good for you again and THEN you can believe that there is "something" out there helping us in our day-to-day lives? And when things do get good again, will you just figure it is about time something good happened, or will you believe that a power stronger than your own human fraility reached out and helped you?
Personally I always believe that Les Lois, God, the Saints, and our Ancestors are ALWAYS listening. I also believe that we may not always get what we want. I would never deign to try to explain why that is; my belief is that when I don't get what I want, there is a reason for it. Sometimes I find out the reason later, sometimes I may never know.
Sometimes I can feel my faith waivering: Where are they? Why can't I have what I want right now? Where is my candy? I know that happens to you, too! But it's okay, that petulant six-year-old child lives in all of us. I think the important thing to remember to do is even in your darkest moment allow yourself some faith. Even if it is just the tiniest shred of faith, it is still a powerful thing. Have no doubt: I have had many crises of faith; some really terrible things have happened in my life. But that candle of faith has always shined in my heart even though it's little flame has been pretty small sometimes. Don't let anything blow out the candle in your heart!
So on this day when a large portion of the world is celebrating the Resurrection, think about whether or not your faith needs resurrecting. What can you do to help that along? The answer is different for everyone. Sometimes counting what blessings you HAVE received in life can be helpful, but that is not always the answer for everyone. Sometimes those blessings seem too few and far between! So there is no easy answer to renewing and resurrecting your faith. However, I do encourage you to try, sometimes just the very act of trying has profound effects.
I wish you all peace, love, harmony, health, and most of all, faith: Faith in yourself, faith in your abilities, and faith in being part of the great Cosmic Consciousness of humankind.
Love, light, and peace, Mambo Sam
“When you have come to the edge Of all light that you know And are about to drop off into the darkness Of the unknown, Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly”
