Faith and Hope

Blessings to you on this threshold of Summer,

Father’s Day and National Indigenous Peoples Day!

I remember, as a child on the farm in southern Manitoba, going out on “adventures” with my younger sister and brother…and our dog, Buck. We would be gone, exploring, for hours. We marveled at the peeling bark on the birch trees, the rain-carved trenches on the road up the hill to the fields, the mouth-puckering taste of chokecherries… We returned, after what seemed hours, in joy and with treasures (once a baby owl who had fallen out of the nest!).

We didn’t think of ourselves as a light of faith and hope, but I reckon we were. Farming in the Pembina Hills was daunting for our Dad. The hills were very hard on the machinery, which meant costly repair bills for an already-stretched budget. Then there was, of course, the uncertainty of prairie weather… Though my siblings and I didn’t mention faith and hope, it was there, and I’ll wager that we blessed our parents in tough times. Now, as an adult and a follower of Jesus, my faith is still inspired by my childhood intuition but is more of a conscious choice.

I heard Brene Brown state this very well, “Faith is an organizing principle in my life.” https://brenebrown.com/videos/the-power-of-being-vulnerable-with-jonathan-fields-of-good-life-project/. Biblical faith is very much related to God’s faithfulness and to orienting ourselves to trust in God’s love, presence and guidance in our lives – an organizing principle. This isn’t blind faith. It very much does its homework…so that we can be a light of faith and hope in tough times.

Christ’s Light of Grace, Peace, Faith, Hope, and Love to all.

Rev. Jan