This is faith.
I’m not talking about religion (though this also applies to that sense of faith). I’m talking about a general sense of eternal well-being.
I used to think faith meant belief. I used to think it was a life-preserver or something to quell anxiety. I used to think it lived in one’s heart or mind.
Lately, I’ve come to realize that true faith resides in feet.
It’s learning to put one foot in front another, even when your footing isn’t sure, when the terrain is uneven and crumbly, when you can’t even see where your next step will land. It’s taking step after step into the air and trusting that the moment you need it, the second your weight shifts forward, something firm will be there to meet your sole.
You will not fall.
There is a man, Nick Wallenda, who is in training right now to cross the Grand Canyon on just a wire, without a safety harness or net. I watched him cross Niagara Falls last year on television. It was hold-your-breath spectacular! There is no way to know which direction the wind will blow as he walks. These great chasms in earth have their own unpredictable currents and drafts.
And yet, through careful training, he will trust his center of balance and his ability to react in real time to the foreseeable, unforeseeable threats that could shake him to his death.
Most of us can’t even imagine attempting such a daring feat, and yet, we step out into uncertainty every single day without even a wire to guide us from Point A to Point B.
Faith is each and every step.
Taking a step in faith means knowing as one job ends, another will appear. Or, if it doesn’t, someone will offer a helping hand. Or, if nobody comes to the rescue, things will somehow work out. Or if things don’t work out, you will still be OK.
Because you are always, already OK.
We are all always, already OK.
Take faith in that essential truth. Step out into life knowing that something will rise out of nothing to meet the sole of your foot, your soul. You can move forward as if you are going to walk on air, which is mysterious, and yet also as predictable as the invisible oxygen you count on for your next breath,
which is always there.
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