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What Does Your Faith Mean to You?

 Letters from the Nest, November 17, 2023

https://lettersfromthenest.substack.com/p/what-does-faith-mean-to-you

Outside of being a stay-at-home mom, one of my current roles is serving as an early morning seminary teacher. Studying the scriptures every morning with high schoolers has its ups and downs. Mostly ups. I crashed today, though, with a long, unexpected nap from late morning until lunchtime. Even though I have graduated from mothering newborns and toddlers, maybe I will never completely escape sleep deprivation.

We have spent the last couple of weeks talking about faith in seminary. That’s a big topic with many opportunities for deep discussion, but my class avoids depth. They’re scared. Depth will require more than some of them are ready to give right now.

I’m at a different place in my faith journey, so I do want to go deeper, but I do NOT want to debate. This can be tricky in some crowds. I want to discuss gospel topics to discover truth, but I don’t want to deal with intellectual posturing or its unattractive companion, defensiveness. I am also not interested in digging into not-so-doctrinal topics that have little to do with my ultimate salvation or well-being. My avoidance of unproductive conflict traps the questioning and truth-seeking in my head. Sometimes I’m overly introspective. Some might say I fall into useless rumination, but I choose to label my thinking time as solitary pondering.

Writing is a happy medium between discussion and isolation. I can get the thoughts out of my head without the real-time reactions of people who might misunderstand or use my personal questions and their preaching platforms. With the thoughts out in an open, non-threatening space, I can turn them this way and that, approach them from different angles and think of alternate conclusions without threat (that is, of course, until I share that writing, which I would only do if/when I felt ready for a response).

So, I’m going to submit some of my thoughts on faith. Maybe they’re jumbled or not-so-eloquent. Maybe they don’t make logical sense. Maybe you don’t care or don’t want to go that deep. Sorry, Nestlings. Nobody is making you read this.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

In a satellite broadcast to the Church Education System educations in February 2006, Elder David A. Bednar described faith as containing three elements: “(1) faith as the assurance of things hoped for that are true, (2) faith as the evidence of things not seen, and (3) faith as the principle of action in all intelligent beings. I describe these three components of faith in the Savior as simultaneously facing the future, looking to the past, and initiating action in the present.”

We did talk about these elements in seminary. I shared my hopes for the future and faith-building experiences I thought they could relate to from my past. We had a decent discussion of what they could do now to strengthen their faith and how important it is to act. We discussed faith in Jesus Christ and how that connects to our future hopes, past experiences, and current behaviors.

I spent much time pondering these principles and discussing them with the class. Still, something was missing. Were they getting it? Was I?

Faith is much trickier to talk about than I thought it would be. It’s so personal.

Personal! Aha! This is why our lessons felt off. These kids don’t want to be vulnerable. They don’t want to share their fears, worries, hopes, or dreams. 

Why?

I have many theories, but one has to do with meaning.

I tested this theory by looking into academic research. Did you know there are studies on the psychological theory of belief? I’m going to botch the literature citation, and I should probably quote something more recent, but in an article published in January 2017 called “Processes of believing: Where do they come from? What are they good for?” the authors, Rudiger J. Seitz, Raymond F. Paloutzian, and Hans-Ferdinand Angel; state in the article’s abstract, “We present evidence suggesting that believing is a human brain function which results in probabilistic representations with attributes of personal meaning and value and thereby guides individuals’ behavior. We propose that the same mental processes operating on narratives and rituals constitute belief systems in individuals and social groups. Our theoretical model of believing is suited to account for secular and non-secular belief formation.”

In other words, Elder Bednar’s three elements of faith are accurate, but an important piece is attributing personal meaning to future, past, and present experiences.

Any belief system, whether secular or religious, requires the attachment of meaning. 

People say trials are meant to build faith. That’s only possible if positive or negative associations are attributed to those trials. Trials can make you or break you. You decide by the meaning you attach.

When a person experiences trauma, one treatment is cognitive reframing. Cognitive reframing involves adjusting meaning.

I could talk about building faith all day with my seminary kids, but nothing will happen unless it means something to them.

Similarly, am I intentionally attaching meaning to my elements of faith?

So much of how I spend my time is mundane work that needs to be completed again and again and again. After many years, I’ll admit that many care tasks required to run our home feel meaningless. 

One day, I felt out of sorts as I thought about how many hours of my life have been spent on the mundane. Was it all a waste? It sure felt like it. But that is because I was not intentionally seeking and attaching meaning. I wrote myself a note. “Your loyalty to your kids, husband, and faith are commendable. The work you do matters, and you are doing a good job. Look for the meaning and purpose; you will also see the blessings and joy.”

Every day, I look at that note and purposefully seek meaning and purpose in past experiences, hope for the future, and opportunities to act with intention and integrity.

It helps.

What does your faith mean to you?



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