Faith, Hope, and Love.
Like many people I love these words. I love them strung together just like this as a simple phrase that reminds us how to live. They are beautiful, simple, and powerful. They speak the heart of the Gospel without preaching.
They are words that can mean so much when they become actions and are the basis of a well-lived life.
Recently though, these words have become actual people to me. (Now let me say that all of my family and friends poses these qualities.) Yet recently I have been spending quite a bit of time with three other women who have come to embody these words. They each act in all of these ways, but something in who they are speaks to one word so strongly that I can no longer separate the woman form the word.
It helps that one of the women is named Faith. I am sure that is how it started. Every time I saw a piece of jewelry or home decoration with the word faith on it, I immediately thought of her. Over time I began to watch her faith in action and I began to see the childlike nature of the faith she holds. It is not childlike because it is immature or simplistic. It is childlike because it simply IS. She has no need to explain or defend her faith. There is no trying to assure others of how strong her faith is. It simply is who and what she is. There is probably no tangible way to explain it. The closest I come to even understanding it is to remember the absolute certainty I had that my parents would pick me up from day-care. When I think of Jesus telling the disciples that they need faith like a child’s, this is what I imagine it to be.
As I have spent more and more time with these women, I have come to see how it was this idea of faith, hope, love that has really bonded us together. We all share a faith in God that has seen us through difficult times. It was through our family of faith that we even began to spend time together. And it has been through the battle one of these women is waging with cancer that we have all learned what real hope looks and acts like.
So often in this world we confuse hope with a wish. We ‘hope’ for many things; a good life; prince charming; money; a good grade on the test; etc. Really what we are doing is wishing. A wish might or might not happen. It might not even be based in reality. Often even if we get what we wish for we are disappointed. A wish is based in the fairly-tale realm which we so often confuse with happiness.
Hope however is that slowly burning ember in the depths of who we are that God is constantly feeding. It never says life will be perfect, or happily ever after. Hope says, “Take my hand. You are not alone. I will bring you through one more day.” Hope speaks of truth and blessing not sunsets and spells. Hope has become personified in my life by a woman who says, “life is good,” when so much seems to be wrong. Hope is finding life and joy where the world might see pain and despair.
When life get s a little overwhelming the four of us will gather, often with wine, to bolster each other up against life’s storms. Not often do we actually vocalize the words of faith and hope, but they are ever present in our gatherings. The one word of this trio that is spoken with frequency is love.
You see the third of these ladies is one of those people who sees the good in everyone and loves them for that good. No matter who it is on the complaining block that night, we have come to learn that words of love will be spoken about them before the night is over. It would be wrong to assume that she never sees a persons faults or flaws. It is that reality that makes this woman such an example of love. She loves people despite their flaws, even when those flaws trample on her life.
It is likely you will see us often together; Faith, Hope, Love, and I. Learning from each other and strengthening the lives we touch, I pray.
You may wonder what role it is that I have in this group? I wonder that often myself.
With these three I abide; Faith, Hope, and Love,
May you be blesses with the same.
