So often when faith is mentioned, people jump back, thinking I’m talking religion. I’m not. We need faith to lead our lives. And I am worried about the faith of my fellow citizens right now.
We need to have faith in each other.
I don’t mean the kind we practice and indeed demonstrate at those “team building” seminars when you cross your arms and fall backwards, and we catch you. If we didn’t, you’d be bumped a bit and embarrassed, and we’d be proven to be the jerks you secretly thought we might be.
But imagine driving the Salmon River on Highway 95 heading south to a meeting in Boise. The road is maybe 30 feet wide. Your little pickup takes up a third of that space. You’re a bit above the limit at 70 MPH and that log truck coming in the other lane might be a bit over too. Faith allows you to keep your speed, trusting the Peterbilt will stay over there, and you won’t drift into a fatal collision. You’ll make the meeting in Boise. That’s daily faith.
Swipe the card at the gas station. Faith in the honesty of the card company, the transfer of funds, the security of your assets lets that transaction not require you to go in and hand a twenty to the guy behind the counter selling corn dogs.
Buying a corn dog at the gas station requires your faith that the food is not tainted, and you’ll only have indigestion, not food poisoning down the road.
A worker starts their job with faith that the paycheck will come.
A mother brings a baby into this world with faith that she can invest in this new life.
We live with faith daily. Without faith, all society crumbles.
You may have faith in your God, you may have faith on Sunday, but do you have faith in your fellow human, your neighbor, anyone beyond yourself? I believe you do. Stand up for that faith. Show it, honor it, believe in it.
It has just become fashionable to deny it. Don’t fall for the fashion, the fad.
The unruly crowd who stormed our National Capitol last January 6th probably all used their credit cards to buy gas or airplane tickets to get there. They had such faith, though they so wanted to deny a faith in our government.
The folks who buy “F**K BIDEN” flags online trust the website selling them to honor their card number and protect their security. They have faith in those selling the wares, so they can wave the flag proudly declaring their lack of faith in our representative government.
For that is the fashion these days, to decry the value, the institution of representative democracy.
Don’t think I’m immune to such distrust. I have had my faith shaken deeply. I grew up not believing in a Southeast Asian war my friends were drafted into. I watched as my president committed crimes and resigned from office. No, faith in government doesn’t come easy for me.
Moreover, I’m an Idaho Democrat and I’ve served in the Idaho Statehouse. Can you imagine a lonelier, more isolated role in government?
But I still believe in the institutions our founders crafted for our governance.
Yes, some of those institutions are flawed. But we, the people of this Republic have the tools and the courage to demonstrate our faith in each other and change them. If something our government is doing is wrong, we can change it. It will take time and effort, not just a tweet or a brief Facebook comment. Change has happened in this Republic.
Hopelessness is what we feel when our faith fails. Let that feeling of hopelessness wash over you and drop to the ground like a fall rain. Then get to work. I would appreciate your effort.