Faith

There’s a little thing called faith that I seem to be running a bit short on these days. Scratch that. It’s more that my faith is being tested and putting my trust in what is definitely a much higher power is where I am having a little trouble.  I am reminded of a story told by Frances Mayes about train tracks that were built over the steepest part of the Alps to connect Vienna and Venice before there was even a train in existence that could make the trip.  The tracks were built knowing that someday, the train would come.  This is a true example of faith – making a plan with the utmost certainty that the final outcome will indeed come. 

Where it gets tricky I suppose, is the road that leads to that outcome.  How many twists and turns must we take and encounter in order to get there?  It is the obstacles in our lives that make us who we are, testing our sensibilities and shaping our character.  But it is also these unexpected complications and tribulations that steer us in directions where we can only rely on our faith to guide us.  So it is a double-edged sword – we need faith to get through and yet it is in getting through that we actually attain faith. 

Story borrowed from Under the Tuscan Sun