Weekly Photo Challenge: Create

Serpent by Susy Cramer (photo by me)

At the beach yesterday, creative energy swirled through the air, almost tangible.  My children tirelessly dug in the sand, creating a hole nearly as big as themselves.  They dug so deeply, it unexpectedly filled with cool saltwater, tickling their toes, further delighting them.

Isn't that the essense of creativity? 

Scintilla Day 6- Faith

A photo by anne(♥)marie on Flickr.

Prompt: Talk about an experience with faith, your own or someone else's.

Even though she has every reason not to, my biological mother possesses rock solid faith. When I was a girl, she often brought me to daily mass, in addition to prayer group, and of course Sunday school. Somehow I was sent to a private Catholic school, despite our financial circumstances. Religion permeated the air we breathed.

Later, when my awareness grew, I was mystified. In college, I became downright perplexed. How could a woman like herself believe in a loving, benevolent, almighty Father? Her whole life has been nothing but struggle; she has survived a traumatic childhood, poverty, depression, encephalitis, and breast cancer. She has been in a nursing home since she was 44... forty-four! Do I need to say any more?

So one day I asked her. I’ll never forget our brief conversation.  I was 19 and had decided church wasn’t for me. For the first time I challenged her. “How do you know God exists?”

She didn’t miss a beat. “I see God every time you visit me.”

I swallowed. Was it that simple?

All these years later, I'm inclined to agree.  Knowing that I'll never fall- that someone will always catch me- is the sort of faith that sees me through my day to day life.  Yes, I sometimes say prayers- and send out wishes, intentions, or whatever you'd like to call them- to the universe.  But I also pick up the phone when I need help, assured that some earthly being will receive my call.

Faith and hope are inextricably connected. I experience them in a myriad of ways...

I have faith in the future when I look at my daughter’s unique hand print...

I have faith in love when I look into my soul mate’s starlit eyes...

I have faith in renewal, the cycles of life, each spring when my garden grows...

 I have faith in the mysterious unknown when I witness the sea and sky meet...

“Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking
                           and sings while it is still dark.” Rabindranath Tagore


* I'm participating in Scintilla, a fortnight of storytelling, with other writers mining the material of their lives. There's still time to sign up for daily prompts if you'd like to join us! 

Homage To The Sea- #365Altars

Seaweed wraps, curvaceous shells, and lapping waves cure all...

*Photograph taken at Inchydoney Island Spa 

This post was inspired by #365Altars Project from @whollyjeanne. 
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