Faith and Miracles!

I don't know what has happened but I have stopped having faith recently. I didn't lose my faith that would eventually come if I don't change myself now, I stopped. Almost like riding a bike up a hill, instead of riding on and pushing up the incline. I have the bike still, I can still pedal, but to move means to get started again and that is always harder to do in the middle of the hill. Now I still have my testimony in things, my church, my Savior. But I have stopped, my faith has stopped; or at least it did until recently. And just like a muscle, if not growing it is dying.

As I just said getting started can be tricky especially after you have been moving and have put on the brakes. It is well known a car uses more energy getting itself up to 60 mph than it does to maintain it. So how do I get my faith working and growing again? I am sure I am not the first to be where I am and I know I will not be the Last.
As a young missionary serving my church in Australia, I was introduced to a basic pattern that when used correctly has always served as a turbo boost in my faith. In both my faith in myself as well as in my spiritual concerns (which for me are inseparable). This basic set of principles completely changed the mission I was serving. Subsequently it has changed my life several times since. And I don't doubt that it will again. The pattern was derived from the life of Christ as told in the Holy Bible by Hartman Rector Jr. an emeritus General Authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But the steps are not unknown to the secular world. My purpose here is not to establish their origin, so if you would like to do your own research is my guest. The steps or pattern is:

1. Believe.
2. Look to The Lord for help. (If you are not religious substitute Providence)
3. Make a Sacrifice.
4. Expect a Miracle.
5. Remember Humility.

Looking back to riding that Bike this pattern is there. If a definite belief that you could ride to the top of the hill doesn't exist, you won't. I used the term won't here instead of can't, it implies choice, can't suggests ability. Most things we do or don't do are by choice. Like Yoda counseling Luke Skywalker, "Do or do not, there is no try". And when Luke challenged Yoda by expressing that his master expected too much, a simple yet cutting reply was given, "That, is why you fail."

One of the main downfalls that Luke has being cautioned about was how he spoke. Do you speak in terms that are positive? A vernacular filled with doubt and fear, erodes faith. If faith is what you are seeking change your speech. And if speaking negativity erodes faith thinking it scours it clean.

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." -Goethe
There is more here that what we see. In fact that is what faith is, hoping and looking for things that are true but that cannot be seen. There have been so many examples brought before us through poets and writers throughout our written history. But a simple one is the wind. No one sees it, but its effects are everywhere. There is a power that exists when you move. It is more than momentum. Knowing that there is more power out there than you has is easy, but believing that that power can be harnessed through your efforts, now that is much more difficult. God does exist, and he looks to bless you. If the term God bothers you then substitute your own language. But he lives, and loves us. He will magnify our own efforts. The second step is to look to him for help.

But what I sometimes forget when I'm in the moment looking for blessings. Is that I have to move as far as I can in the direction my goals are, then and only then will providence move to. If a young artist never develops his craft, and then becomes inspired, that inspiration is lost like a raindrop in the dessert. But if that artist learns how to move his brush, and mix his paints and prepare his canvass, then inspirations comes, the world is blessed by something as beautiful as the Mona Lisa. That is why the scriptures so often refer to faith as a seed. A seed will grow if only watered, but will die soon after if not supported by the soil and nutrients around it. Looking to the Lord for your blessings requires you to plant your seed first in a nurturing soil, then when the Lord commences to water, your faith will increase beyond imagination.

There is no such thing as something for nothing. And there is no such thing as something from nothing either. Everything has always existed, and that is especially true about energy. Whether it is heat, or electricity, or any other type of energy, it is never created. It just exists. But the real impressive events happen when energy converts from one form to another. That is when things move, or light up, or are explode. Something has to be done to change energy from heat to electricity. Energy does not do it alone. A catalyst must be used. Work must be done. A sacrifice must be made.

While it is noted above that you must have help from above, Thomas Edison said "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." We cannot achieve a hundred percent by ourselves, but we have to put our ninety nine percent on the altar. Our sacrifice must be our work, and it also has to be our hearts. Is a sacrifice really a sacrifice if we don't put ourselves behind it? There are a lot of good things to do in life. But unless we are performing the works that gives us the end we seek we can never achieve the Faith we seek.

But when we have put the one percent and the ninety nine percent together then we always know what we get. We know it we can expect it. And we can expect a miracle. Miracles happen around us every day. Miracles are not performed by magic, even when our understanding is limited as to exactly how they are brought about. The Laws of nature and the Laws of God are the same.

We live a day and age where the many of the magician's secrets have been revealed and for some that means miracles do not exist. Yet many of these same cynics will still be amazed at Hollywood's most recent special effect. Miracles still exist, even if some of the wonder is gone. Knowing that you can take two magnets and move their positive and negative field's trough each other does not stop electricity from being a miracle. It just means you know how to recreate that miracle.

The same is true with Faith. You can expect Miracles to happen. Sometimes however the results are not exactly what we asked for. The creator of A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy once said, "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." Sometimes the how's and means of accomplishing our goals and living our life does not always follow the path we intend but as our faith grows we find out that we still reach our destinations, and usually are better for it.

Understanding Faith is far and above accomplishing our goals. The above pattern can be used time and again for a success formula, a way to achieve our goals. But if left at that it is derelict. It is hollow. In fact it is at this step that looking back I drop the ball. I do not remember humility. In fact this is the hardest step. It is at this time that the easy way is to just be happy that your miracle was achieved, or that your goal was scored.
I have watched my niece play goalie since she was young and have always admired her tenacity. She will stop goal after goal, but she is always humble enough to know that although she just made one of the biggest saves of her career, at any minute another might slip through her grasp. This knowledge not only humbles her but drivers her to continue. Humility I think in its true form is a principle of power. Just like insulation on electrical wires contains and focuses the power. Humility is what keeps our faith from exploding away in a big blue light.

I have always been taught about Christ's sacrifice for mankind. Understanding humility to even the degree I do, however small that is, also gives me a glimpse into why Christ did what he did. The creator of all mankind, and all of nature condescended himself, and dwelt among us, knowing that he would be spit upon, and beaten and sacrificed. With all the power in the universe insulated by own will, he achieved results beyond the power it took to create the world. He saved it. That is why Hartman Rector Jr. titled this pattern, following Christ to victory.

There is an interesting paradigm shift when we talk about faith in general, and when we talk about faith in Christ. When I started this entry I probably worried some of you a little. You may have for a moment wondered if I needed my home teachers sent right over, or needed a special blessing or fast. I never really meant to say that my faith in Christ had stopped. If you interpreted it that way I am sorry. But I have had a hard time with faith in myself. Knowing that faith in me grows out of my faith in Christ brought me to write this entry. And although I share this with anyone who reads this, this is for me. I need to remember to believe, to look to the Lord for my blessings, to make a sacrifice, to expect miracles, and to be humble. I hope that you to will increase your faith by following this sacred blueprint.