Faith implies vulnerability.

Faith is not the full knowledge of the arrival of something that you hope for. Rather, faith is the belief that in the larger picture, the goodness and the love that is God is nevertheless present. It is a belief in that presence; it is not a certainty from evidence received of that existence. When you feel the presence of God in moments in your life, you are not exercising faith, but you may often exercise gratitude, and you may express your thanks, your response of love, in many different ways. Faith is not one of those ways.

Often, we emphasize the value, the service of faith in human life, but your experience of faith is most profound when the light feels dim. It is at such times when you want to reach out and call for God to be present. It is at such times when you feel the dimness that you wish to somehow energize God’s presence, to convince God to make something right out of what feels to be so wrong at the moment.

Faith is the willingness to be vulnerable to God’s light. This vulnerability is not an exercise in being a victim. It is the act of merely being open and receptive to the light that is.