This I Believe

"Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe." - St. Augustine -

As an infant, Helen Keller was struck by a fever that left her deaf and blind. But with the guidance of her teacher Anne Sullivan, she learned to communicate through the eyes and ears of others. After graduating from Radcliffe College, Keller became a renowned author, activist and lecturer. In sharing what she believes, she said:

“I choose for my subject faith wrought into life, apart from creed or dogma. By faith I mean a vision of good one cherishes and the enthusiasm that pushes one to seek its fulfillment regardless of obstacles.”

In the '50s there was a program called, 'This I Believe', it sought "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization".

What a great concept... but ... how difficult it is for people to begin this task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own....and the truth is, very few people are able to find common ground.

I just saw a story on a young girl who had worked to achieve the honor of being valedictorian of her high school. During her speech she was sharing those values in her life which had helped to mold her into the person she had become, for example; her belief in God, her faith, ...as you might guess, the microphone was turned off in the middle of her speech.

Would they have turned the microphone off on Helen Keller?

Who makes those kind of decisions???

When I was in high school, I was so careful to not offend anyone by talking about my religion. Twenty years later, at the high school reunion, many of those same people that I had tip toed around, had become born again Christians and were actually praying over me at a picnic table!

I thought (though somewhat mortified)"good for them" and re-thought why I would decide to be quiet on something that was so important to me...my own faith!

I think it's important to respect other's boundaries, and life choices, and to choose, when we think differently, to love others unconditionally.

A judgemental or critical attitude is never helpful, and may stem from a strict legalistic interpretation of the Bible; a strict, overbearing conscience; or a tendency to be negative in thought, speech and actions, or maybe, just from a need to be perceived as "correct". Believing that there is one right way to live, to be, to act, to think.

The word paradigm comes from the Greek, and means a model, theory, perception, assumption, or frame of reference. I first became familiar with this concept while reading one of Steven Covey's books.

I now know, that we see the world through our own paradigms or mental models. We get so used to our paradigms that we forget that we are interpreting everything we see through them all the time. We think we see things the way they really are. If someone sees the world differently, we automatically assume that person is wrong!

"Life does not always present us with either/or choices. Sometimes two people can disagree and both be right. Sometimes they can both be right but also incomplete. Sometimes there is a better way than either party has seen, and if they put their heads together, they might discover it". (Dr. J. Howard Baker)

Like Helen Keller, I choose faith. To believe that all things good are grounded in faith, and to diligently seek after those things, no matter what.

MKC