Most of us spend our lives flipping a coin to decide between equally balanced possibilities. Oh, maybe not so much a real coin, but some of the choices we make might as well be decided in such a fashion. This is especially true when it comes to our position on spiritual matters.
Does God exist, or are we all the beneficiaries of some lucky cosmic accident? Flip a coin.
Were Adam and Eve truly the first human beings. or is that just a fable? Flip a coin.
Was Jesus actually resurrected, or was that just a story? Flip a coin.
To further compound the questions is the desire that we all have that the answers correspond to what we see as in our best interest. We hope that the Bible stories are true. We hope that we continue to exist after physical death. We hope that there is a heavenly home that awaits us.
With all this hoping and wishing, and yearning, we miss one important truth. Hope and faith are two sides of the same coin. They are in fact, complementary companions of the same human quest.
Hope is, after all, wishful thinking. It is envisioning an outcome that we would like to achieve or like to see accomplished. We hope that a loved one recovers from a serious illness. We hope that one day, we might win that big lottery jackpot. We hope that our spiritual beliefs are correct and strong enough to carry us through to a heavenly reward.
The flip side of that coin is faith. Faith is a step beyond hope. Faith is not just believing – it is knowing. Faith is trusting that what is in our best interests will come about, even if it doesn’t exactly match our wish list.
Hope can energize our faith, while faith can provide a secure foundation for our hopes.
It is an inexplicable dance as the two sides of the coins spin endlessly throughout our lives. Each side supports the other, and when one side appears to be weakening, we need only flip to the other side to find the power to reinforce our ability to survive and thrive.
There are those moments in life when it seems all hope is lost.
That is when it is time to flip that coin and bring faith into the light. And if we have built a stong foundation of faith, hope is restored – knowing that all will be as it should for our ultimate benefit.