Faith

Tigger the calico cat was sleeping on her olive-colored, great bed. Lilly the dog was snoring by the door, until I looked at her, then she came to sit with me on the oak floor just in case I needed company. My love was lazily massaging my left shoulder, too relaxed to use his right hand to massage the other shoulder. My right shoulder was weeping in protest. Two friends were lounging and all of us were talking late into the afternoon.
We all (yes, dog and cat included) were discussing the correct medial angles of specific joints that insure comfort and health. Granted, this was a topic only fascinating to those who have a personal interest, whether it is because they live in pain or because they are medical professionals who treat those suffering.
I was been pretty quite all afternoon, letting my friends learn of each other. I am the common denominator in all of these exceptional people’s lives. I brought them together, now they must dance the dance and see if and how they fit together. I have faith.
As I sat and listened to the conversation spin around me, I thought about faith. Faith, if you Google it and ignore the religious flavors, is defined as “complete confidence in a person or plan.” Faith is a great thing to consider as you watch people learn of each other, learn from each other and feel out the safe level of vulnerability that is right for them.
As the day turned into evening, my friends become impressed with each other’s knowledge, and even more importantly comfortable with each other’s willingness to share. One of the truly successful business tenants of online marketing is that you give away your best information. Yup, you give it away so your clients/customers are impressed right off the mark and want to do business with you.
The same is true when you want to connect with people who are living a life of goodness, truth and beauty. You give them the best of you, no quid pro quo expected. Think of that, if I give all of the goodness and love I have to others, everything about my life changes. When I give my best away, the environment I create and every place I go have more substance and more spirit.
Faith in other’s willingness to give the best they have, just because it feels good, is a stellar way to live. Faith is not blind, it is not naive and it is not misguided. It is a way to get the love you want. It starts with faith in myself, and my ability to know when to risk and when to hold. Faith in others is rarely betrayed unless we—yes, you and I—are wired to believe that people betray.
For me, I like the idea of having faith, complete confidence in a person or plan, in those I allow in my inner circle. I also like the idea of having faith in you. I also like the idea of you having faith in me; that is to say, I will give you the best of me just because it is right and true to do so.