Faith is...

I think faith is an interesting subject, one I get to teach on today for Sunday School but also one that always hides in the back of my mind for manipulation and thinking. The scriptures have all sorts of amazing definitions for faith, what it is and what it isn't. But I always like to put things into my own words and into the sphere of which I work. A while back I came to define Faith as playing an octave with your pedals at the end of a Bach piece at double forte volume. That takes faith, you can't look at your feet and the volume is already up there. You just have to believe in all the practice, in all the times you have done it right, and put your feet down with conviction and confidence. That is faith in my world.

Brother Fredrikson once accused me of giving him confidence....misplaced confidence! He knew he had a voice but didn't know he had a singing voice, but when told he could sing enough times he started to believe it and then, through his belief, he brought about the desired end. He became a soloist as well as a choir member. Therefore I must conclude that faith has to do with confidence and sometimes, it would appear, misplaced confidence. Nothing really changed with his voice, only the confidence to use that voice. Faith does not waver, we do. Sometimes I have enough faith to just present my gift and feel relatively confident. Other times I present it on the confidence of someone else.

I have Faith in Heavenly Father but sometimes I don't have faith in me. When that happens I have to borrow the faith from someone else until I am strong enough to have it for myself. That is the concept I want to teach my wonderful little ten through 12 year old students today. Use your own faith, exercise your own faith, but when you just aren't strong enough to make it happen then look around and borrow from those that are so willing to offer it to you. Look to unit leaders, look to parents, to friends and peers that you respect. Look there until you can look inside and blow the little sparks of your own faith to full light.

One of the things I admire most about my children is their faith. All of them have a generous supply of it. They keep going when logic says it is time to quit. That is faith in action and that is what we all need to cultivate. Emily was willing to exercise her faith in her musical ability to pick up a viola and play violin music for Nancy's wedding without the preparation time necessary. It didn't happen for other reasons, but the faith in her own ability was still there and I have no doubt it would have been a positive experience for both the performer and the listener, albeit the music might have been sacrificed a little.

What a key component to life this faith is. It is what I intend to work more on as the new year comes upon us. Having faith in all things, including faith in me.