Courageous Faith

It is all well and good to say, "Follow your heart." or "Do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do." It is a whole different thing to actually do it.

The hard part about faith throughout time has been that sometimes it is quite difficult or risky to do the right thing. There are consequences. Sometimes those consequences are scary.

Assume there is a person in your class or at your place of employment who is a bit different. You feel in your heart that the right thing to do is to befriend that person. You do not just think it is something you should do because it would be nice, or something you feel guilty about not doing, because the person has no friends. Neither of those are reasons in and of themselves for you to act. No, in this case, you actually know in your heart that befriending this person is the right thing to do for you.

Well what does that mean? Well, if you believe what I am writing, then you have to befriend this rather odd person.

Yikes, but consider the consequences.

• There is a very good chance that this rather odd person will latch onto you like glue and never let you out of her sight. You are her only and bestest friend forever. You are not sure you could handle that.
• There is a decent chance that your other friends, who you know consider this person to be a bit more than "a bit odd," will, at a minimum, have a harder time including you in things for fear you will bring "Her" along.
• If you do go with your old friends and your new rather odd friend finds out that you did not invite her along, she will be hurt, and you don't want to have to deal with all that.

Lot's of potential consequences of doing the right thing. In the end, you have to follow your heart, trust your instincts, believe that the spirit is guiding you in the right way, and take the leap and befriend the person. It will probably end up being one of the greatest decisions you have ever made, though many of the expected consequences will happen, and you will have to deal with them, and you will grow as a result.

For me it is often that Oreo cookie that I did not get to taste. Maaannn, chocolate cookie and that cream filling and . . . . . well I can dream, can't I?

Sometimes the consequences are significant. Perhaps a law must be broken to, say, improve civil rights in this country. Your life could be risked to topple a dictator, to defend the nation, free enslaved people or to protect your rather odd friend from a mugger. There are amazingly couragious people who every day brave the consequences of doing the right thing, doing what they know in their hearts is the right thing for them. They hear their calling. They understand the risks and because they know it is the right thing for them, they act.

Generally our consequences are less grave. Perhaps social embarrassment when going out of your way to applaud a magnificent performance in the middle of church, potential loss of a "friend" who you suddenly find to be a bigot, time away from people you love to move a cause forward or help the homeless, financial costs to support a charity or position, or just the loss of the joys of Oreo cookies to keep your weight loss moving forward.

I find, as I talk to people about this, that a significant impediment to doing what the Spirit of Truth, as Jesus called it, tells them is the right thing to do for them, is their own Christian church leaders, or their wife, grandmother or mother, or those they go to church with. "I don't really understand what the fuss is about, but I can't support gay marriage because I would be ostracized from my church and friends if I did."  "I am a Republican/Democrat because my entire family is, so I just vote that way because it is easier." "Even though I love her, she is Jewish and my Irish family would disown me if we were married." Luckily more and more people are breaking those bonds, freeing their minds and doing what they know is right, damn the consequences. While political issues often don't sway us, love conquers all.

I have found that usually when you do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do, things ultimately go well, or not as bad as you thought. Not always right away and not all the time. Thousands of people have given their lives and freedoms to free the enslaved, help improve equality, and drive out oppressors. Perhaps the result for them was not so bad. What about the wounded who survived? It amazes me how many would do it all again because it was the right thing to do and losing a limb or two is a physical loss, not a spiritual one. Still others curse the day they joined the military, though at the time they were sure it was the right thing to do. Hmmm. Consequences.

Not everything is our personal burden. It is not the right thing for many of us to do the things others feel compelled to do. We should not feel guilty that we are not doing something for the homeless, for example. We do what is right in our hearts for us as to others, and that, no matter what it is, is our calling. Most people have no interest in babbling on about spiritualism and, based on the readership of this blog, even fewer care to read about it. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to write it down and perhaps one person will benefit. Perhaps that one person is me. Who knows.

Having the courage to do what we know in our hearts is the right thing to do, all the time and despite the consequences, is what keeps us in Harmony with all things.

Love to all.