Acts of Faith INTRODUCTION A lot has changed in the world since this book was first published twenty-five years ago. When I first submitted the Acts of Faith manuscript to my editor, it was on paper, delivered by snail mail. The Internet was very new, which didn''t matter because most people did not own a computer. There was no social media to spread news or gossip. Millionaire Kylie Jenner had not yet been born, and the only way you could purchase something outside of a store was through a catalog. Today, much of what is common, normal, and accepted is very different. Still, certain elements of the human conditions remain the same. Even in today''s fast-paced technology-driven world, there are people who do not believe they have the capacity or the power to navigate the advances taking place all around them.
For more than just a few, today''s world is an overwhelming and scary place. With great fear and trepidation, these people are just about to. Just about to break up; just about to break down; just about to make some money; just about to declare bankruptcy. Very often, when these folks are just about to do something, they encounter something that takes them off track. They blame that something for their lack of faith in themselves and the process of life. There are other people who skip through life almost-ing. I almost had this; I almost did that. These are usually the same people who almost didn''t do something but are now just about to do something else.
Looking at them and the situations many of them wrestle with, you pray that they do something, anything to move themselves in a new direction. What you may not understand or recognize is that there is a secret thrill and excitement that goes along with just about to do and almost did that keeps people stuck in a time warp of fear and faithlessness. There is no amount of likes or follows that will convince them that they or life can be different. They are content to talk about rather than be about something different. Change takes place in the moment, and when you have faith, any moment can be the moment that change happens for you. Without faith, you will live in a scary place. For clarity''s sake, let''s call that place on the edge. The edge is the place you live in when you almost do what you know you need to do, but don''t follow through for one reason or another.
The edge is where you live when you hope, wish, and try, but never seem able to get anything done. The edge is where you live when you view yourself as a victim of the circumstances of your life, with no real clue about how you are creating our experiences. It is also on the edge where you can develop the faith you need to do what is required to abandon the edge forever. Twenty-five years ago, when this book first appeared, patterns of belief and behavior were breaking down because they no long fit the times in which we were living. Back then when a postage stamp cost 25 cents, people could not imagine that the ATM would make a difference in the lives of ordinary people. When a gallon of gas was 97 cents, people believed that a low-fat diet with lots of carbs was the key to losing weight. When gangsta rap was growing as a recognized form of social and political expression, public discussions of spirituality outside of the church were feared and denounced. In response to these changes, people''s stress levels were increasing.
Most people needed a little help to get them off the edge of changing times and mind-sets. They were willing to consider something new and different that gave them a sense of empowerment. In the pages of a little purple book, I offered them something to consider. I offered them faith. Faith in themselves. Faith in the changes taking place in the world. Faith in the processes of life that at the time looked and felt very strange. Since that time, more than six million people have used the messages in this book to renew themselves and their faith.
But again today we find ourselves on the edge, being motivated to find and embrace a more centered, loving, and peaceful approach to the changes we encounter. At the same time, there are many who are scratching their heads in amazement or shaking with fear, wondering if they are going to make it through the rapid changes with which we are being confronted. Let''s be honest! There''s a certain thrill that comes with living on the edge. There is a thrill that accompanies the struggle to hang on. There''s a certain thrill people get from the urgency of holding things together or keeping them from falling apart. People who live on the edge can become so addicted to the adrenaline rush of the drama that they depend on crises to make them feel important. When you are struggling on the edge, you have something to do. When there is a problem to solve or a crisis to overcome, you feel needed.
When you make desperate attempts to overcome the problems and difficulties you face, you feel validated. This gives you a temporary high called busyness. For some people, being busy makes life worth living. People who live on the edge are always busy avoiding something, getting over something or getting through one thing or another. In most cases, they never quite make it over to the other side, but they can tell exciting stories about the struggle just to hang on. I grew up on the edge. I became master at hanging out on the edge by watching the adults in my life move through just about to dramas, almost disasters. I can''t even count the number of times I heard one of my relatives say, "I almost had a disaster on my hands.
" For most of my young adult life, I lived on the edge of poverty or the edge of financial breakthrough. I lived right on the edge of almost getting my life in order, while at the same time being on the edge of having my life fall apart. I lived on the edge of my relationships breaking up while doing everything I could to keep myself from breaking down. I learned how to survive being on the edge by pumping myself up with victory chants: "This is not going to happen to me--again!" "I''m gonna make it through this!" "I''m not about to let this get me down!" I had a lot of company on the edge. Friends who knew about my situation because of their own situation cheered me on. We supported one another through our edge-of-night and edge-of-daylight dilemmas. We compared notes on how close we were to falling off the edge, each one of us quietly taking pride in the fact that there was someone closer to falling off than we were. Living on the edge ultimately becomes a way of life, simply because it is what you know.
More often, you stay there because you don''t believe you deserve better, and because you lack the faith required to have more. Some of us live on the edge because we are undisciplined. Others of us are there because we simply don''t know any better way. We live on the edge because it attracts attention, gives us an excuse; as long as we are hanging on at the edge, we cannot be held responsible for ourselves, our lives or the way things turn out. After all, when you are on the edge, you could be pushed over; you could slip and fall; you could hang off the edge until you lose your grip; but whatever way it happens, should you fall off the edge, it would not be your fault. You did the best you could because when you are on the edge, just about to or almost-ing, life happened to you, not through you. When life is happening to you, it is almost impossible to focus faithfully on anything good. When you live on the edge, you do not plan, because you need faith to plan.
You have no faith, so you wish, hope, and try. You hope things will work out. You try to do better. When things don''t work out or when you don''t get what you are trying to get, you get busy trying to make things happen. But when you live on the edge, you expect the worst. You look for the worst anywhere and you see it everywhere. In reality, though, you have very limited vision. It takes faith and courage to see beyond your present circumstances into the divine opportunities and possibilities of the future.
Trying to make things happen keeps you on the edge, whereas faith can and will catapult you into a breakthrough. Day by day, step by step, a little at a time--that is how faith works. Quite often when I read my mail, I am stunned by the anguish, fear, frustration, and sometimes desperation with which people write. More than a few describe the feeling of being overwhelmed. They do not understand why things are not going better in their lives or in the world. Painfully they describe to me their meditation and prayer practices. They affirm forgiveness of themselves and others. They claim to be working diligently to overcome their own shortcomings and challenges.
Yet for some reason the bills still aren''t paid or the relationship doesn''t seem to be getting better; there is no relationship prospect in sight and the business still isn''t booming. More important, when the feelings of frustration get the best of the best of them, they ask me: "What am I doing wrong?" For those who may feel they are on the edge, rest assured, you are not doing anything wrong. Everything is exactly as it should be. There is no amount of meditation, prayer, silence, or any other spiritual practice that will change the circumstances of your life overnight. The purpose of all spiritual practice is to change your consciousness--how you see things; what you care about; how you approach whatever it is that confronts you. Day by day, prayer will elevate the heart and mind above and beyond the physical realities of life. Step by step, medita.