What is faith if not a hope of things unseen? Yes, I understand there is that caveat of those things needing to be true, but how do we verify their verity without first hoping for them?
I've been reflecting A LOT lately on what principles I want to put my faith in. I truly desire to be an honest seeker of truth. So, I figure I have to start somewhere. Here is where I am starting:
* I want to believe in an eternally just, infinitely merciful Heavenly Father.
* I want to believe in the inherent dignity of humanity.
* I want to believe that TRUTH transcends seeming inconsistencies in all other matters.
* I want to believe that God loves the individual.
* I want to believe that becoming something is more important than doing something (though the two are linked).
* I want to believe in the doctrine of repentance and redemption.
* I want to believe in the beauty of grace.
* I want to believe that there is room for people to be messy and inconsistent.
* I want to believe in a God who is all-powerful and can work with the incongruities men and women bring about.
* I want to believe in a God whose business is people.
* I want to believe that even flawed folks can fulfill divine callings.
* I want to believe that divine callings can be fulfilled by flawed folk.
* I want to believe that those who fulfill divine callings are flawed folk (just like me).
* I want to leave room for the flaws of others.
* I want to leave room for the flaws of my shared history.
* I want to leave room for the flaws of my personal history.
* I want to learn to truly, truly love the individual.
* I want to honor the dignities found in differing perspectives and see them as reflections of a greater whole without sanitizing them or warping them to fit my own schema.
* I want to honor mystery and reverence the unknown.
* I want to find God in the nuances.
* I want to believe we do not know it all.
* I want to discuss the wholeness of the human experience and give place for the ugliness as well as the beauty.
* I want to find unity as an "us" without the divisiveness of a "them."
These are the pillars of my truth-seeking. These are the tones that resonate in the deepest chambers of my soul.
In a tumultuous and confusing world, it's a place to start...
