“Without faith, hope and trust, there is no promise for the future, and without a promising future, life has no direction, no meaning and no justification.”
Adlin Sinclair
faith: belief and (trust) in and loyalty to God
hope: to expect with confidence (trust)
trust: dependence on something future or contingent (hope)
Obviously, this blog is taking its own form! Instead of writing about my own personal meditations I have begun to blog about meditation exercises and topics that peak my interest. I am still meditating daily, leading group meditations and studying to become a certified meditation instructor. My meditative journey has not been filled with much imagery lately, only with moments of peace and bliss.
Today I pondered ( a loose form of meditation!) on a question a dear friend asked me several days ago. What is the difference between faith, hope and trust when they pertain to God? My initial response was that it was a matter of semantics (word selection or meaning). There are subtle differences in the words faith, hope and trust as you can see from the definitions listed above.
It is easier for me to explain them in terms of human emotions. For example, I have faith that a light switch will turn on the lights in my office. I trust that the electrician wired the switch correctly. I hope so - anyways! As for an example of faith, trust and hope in God's love - I have faith that God exist. I trust that God will watch over me and hope is the emotion that keeps the faith and trust a float!
But a faith that doesn't have trust or hope isn't very fulfilling. Trust without faith seems sort of short...and faith and trust without hope - well if you've ever been hopeless then you know in the darkness a light shines otherwise we wouldn't be here reading and writing a blog! So to tie them neatly in a package...you can't have one without the other! They are mutually exclusive to me. If I lose faith it's because I've lost trust and I become hopeless. I don't have to have faith and trust in God to have hope. But it sure helps me!
peace and blessings!
