When I was a young adult I admired people of faith. I wondered how they could be so certain about the big questions of life when to me everything seemed quite uncertain. I think I made the common mistake of contrasting faith with doubt, assuming that a person with faith must have no doubts.

These days I would call myself a person of faith – but that doesn’t mean that I have everything figured out. Rather, it seems to me that faith is having the courage to trust what you can’t fully grasp, despite the uncertainty, as suggested by the above quote from Brene Brown. The book of Hebrews states it this way: faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Heb 11:1).

So when I look at the world I see plenty of reasons for doom and gloom and many situations that seem impossible to resolve, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine or the climate emergency that we seem no closer to solving. But faith is trusting in God and God’s promises in spite of the difficulties and struggles that surround us every day. It is having the courage to trust that following the way of Jesus will make a positive contribution to the world and the people around us.