A Simple Definition of Faith

Description

As Advent rises again, I feel God inviting us into a season of beginnings, a kind of holy adventure where we open our hands and welcome whatever grace the new year carries. I watch people navigate heartbreak and hope at the same time, and something tender happens in that mix. Faith grows. It breathes. It leans forward even when the path feels steep. Volf’s gentle phrase keeps circling back to me: open hands and a sense of gratitude. Those two simple movements change the inner weather. They create space for God to walk with us the way Swedenborg describes the Lord’s constant desire to be present in our first steps toward anything good, planting beginnings that lead toward new life (Secrets of Heaven 840, 10225). Gratitude rises in surprising places, even in memories soaked with loss. It honors love that once held us and still holds us. And as we move toward a new year, I picture Emmanuel beside us, steady, warm, quietly offering perspective and courage. Life can be so hard, yet astonishingly beautiful, and faith helps us hold both at once.