Foggy Faith

I woke up to a dense fog this morning. It’s so rare to experience this kind of weather where we live.  I know this may sounds terribly attractive to somebody from London or Seattle, but I assure you it's not always what you may think. For our usual lot is the glaring extremes.

Blazing sun?

Yes.

Ominous thunder clouds?

Count on it.

Ear-splitting lightening?

We are the world capital for lightening strikes.

The hurricanes and the tornadoes?

Absolutely.

Gray and fog?

Not so much.

Well today it came and its thick wooly blanket rendered our usual intensely sun-bathed world virtually invisible. At least temporarily.

The fog, of course, didn't change the reality, just our perception of it. I say 'just' with tremor, for much of our lives is about our perceptions, regardless what reality truly is.

We knew the street and the trees and the neighbor’s houses were still there.  We knew the Sun was shining above, and the earth was still firmly under our feet.  It’s just we couldn’t see it.  Because we couldn’t see, it made us somehow insecure. We had to slow down.  Our steps became tentative and even our conversation became hushed. 

We had to strain our eyes to discern, and even so quite dimly, the retention pond and the gray heron, the muscovies and their fresh batch of baby ducks. 

This is what faith is, I think, peering in the direction my daughter is pointing, for she always spots them first.  I may not see, but I know they are there… and one day, when the fog burns off, we will all see, without the strain in our eyes, without falter in our step…

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6