The Light of Faith – September 03, 2000
Because life is full of many challenges, we may occasionally feel overwhelmed. It can seem as if we’re lost in a dark cave, searching for a ray of hope. Whenever adversity erodes the will to go on, we need to draw on the light of faith to get us through moments of darkness. We can then proceed to face our challenges with greater determination.
The accomplishments in the life of one man were not unlike those of any other person struggling to improve. He was elected student body president when he was in the ninth grade. He raised a grand champion Holstein bull. He was captain of his college wrestling team, and went on to finish medical school in the top five of his class. Then he married his sweetheart and raised a wonderful family. He was active in his church, served as an assistant Scoutmaster, and ran a busy private medical practice through the years. But the most remarkable achievement of all was that this man did these things while completely blind. Although he was deprived of sight as a child, he never lost the light of faith that guided him through his darkened world.
To move ahead and accomplish worthwhile things under difficult circumstances, we must believe in a better future. In a world filled with skepticism, there are those who would say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Saint Augustine explained that “faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.”1 It’s useless for us to hope our lives will improve without taking action. We see the confirming evidence of our faith only after we’ve exercised it. Some people have a gift of great faith, but everyone can improve this attribute—simply by trying.
We can turn to many sources of inspiration when shadows of despair threaten to stop us in our tracks. Close friends, good books, uplifting music, and especially sincere prayer can all serve to build our faith and pull us through hard times. Tangible rewards of happiness, and a deeper love for life await those who awaken their ability to stand up and step through their disbelief. As we meet our challenges head on with the light of faith within us, darkness will surely disperse. Our vision will be redirected upward, and we’ll be led to acknowledge the ultimate source of light, as did Job when he confessed, “By his light I walked through darkness.”2
Program #3707
1. Rhoda Thomas Tripp, The International Thesaurus of Quotations (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 202.
2. Job 29:3.