Weekly Meditation

What if...?
Faith does not live in a House of Certainty.

By its very nature faith requires doubt. Our days and lives are filled with what ifs? What if I lose my job, my home, the love of my spouse or kids, etc. The list goes on and on. We crave certainty sometimes even if the news is bad. I used to explain to my legal clients that no matter how good their case I would never give them better than a 75% chance of winning, there is always uncertainty in every trial.

This was never the answer they wanted to hear, but it was truthful.

So we all engage in what they call in the insurance industry — risk avoidance. One of the most used techniques in life to avoid risks is to not be truthful. We fudge. To avoid the uncertain consequences of telling the truth we engage in deception. So at various times we deceive our spouse, our family, our doctors, our friends and co-workers and most importantly and more often -- ourselves. We rationalize this by saying things like, “ I can’t handle what will happen if...;or what will they think of me; or I don’t want them to get hurt; or I am going to change and they will never need to know,etc.” We believe that the House of Certainty is where we can live in comfort, when in reality it is full of leaks, cold drafts, and faulty wiring that can cause the house to burn down at any time.

So we are called to be truthful and leave the fiction of a House of Certainty and make “the giant leap.” It’s a tough nut to crack, but if we do we will truly live in comfort no matter the worldly consequences.