Writings of Recovery

FAITH IS MORE CRAFT THAN FEELING…and prayer is our chief practice in that craft. (Prayer in the Night/Tish Harrison Warren)

A few things I am learning. Feelings are not facts. They are just that. Feelings. They come and go. They shift with millions of different variables through the day and circumstance.

If I embrace faith as a feeling, I will have to also embrace that my faith will come and go and that it will shift according to whatever variables present themselves in that moment.

Craft…

Craft is defined by Merriam-Webster as ‘making something with care, skill, or ingenuity.’ (Ingenuity: the quality of being clever, original, and inventive.’)

If I embrace faith as a craft…

…as with all crafts, one has to start somewhere. At the beginning. And in the beginning, there is little to no care, skill, or ingenuity.

If I see faith as something of value, something I want, I realise it is something I need to work on, to hone (smooth, sharpen, refine, perfect).

If prayer is the chief practice in the craft of faith, I begin to pray….

…………………………

Anything new feels weird. Awkward. I fumble. I struggle. I want to give up. I don’t like the feelings of inadequacy that pop up and I want to give up.

Even though I have been told there is no wrong way to do it; just do it!, I still feel like I am doing it wrong.

But, then, I am reminded….’Feelings are not facts. They come and go. They shift.’

I return to wanting more faith. Needing more faith.

And I get back to the practice, practice, practice of prayer and a means of honing  my craft.