HOME & DESIGN PAGE 39 theconnectionsnj.com Keeping you comfortable day after day! Count On! COMFORT YOU CAN WE DO IT ALL! CALL TODAY! 908-285-7406 email: rob.gawel@rdheatcool.net • Rdheatcool.net GAS & PROPANE OIL INSTALL MAINTENANCE Lic. #19HC00825400 CRAFTED TO IMPRESS. BUILT TO LAST. The Experts You Need for Your Paving or Concrete Projects OUR SERVICES Contact information: 732-433-0561 john@emcpaving.com • Asphalt Paving • Pavers • Retaining Walls and Repairs • Driveways • Concrete Sidewalks • Patios • Walkways • Steps very month, I sit down to write this column believing I’m writing it for you. Then, months later, life has a funny way of handing it back to me. I’ll stumble across an old article while cleaning out a folder or scrolling through my computer, reread a paragraph I’d completely forgotten writing, and think, That is exactly what I needed today. It’s become a quiet tradition. Almost as if the person writing these words knows the future version of me a little better than the present one does. Frankly, she’s becoming one of my favorite people. This month, that reminder is faith. It may need to be yours, too. If you’ve ever noticed your mind constantly searching for answers, you’re not alone. Neuroscientists have found that our brains are prediction machines. Every day, they scan for patterns, look for certainty, and try to anticipate what comes next because uncertainty has historically signaled danger. It makes sense, then, that waiting for an answer, hoping for a breakthrough, or living in the unknown can feel so deeply uncomfortable. Our brains want evidence. They want guarantees. Faith asks us to live without either. Hope and faith often get used interchangeably, but I think they’re slightly different. Hope says, I would love for this to happen. Faith replies, I believe something good is still possible, even before I can prove it. That sounds inspiring until you’re the one living it. It’s easy to believe when life is unfolding exactly as planned. It’s much harder when the promotion doesn’t come, the relationship feels uncertain, the prayer goes unanswered, or the future you’ve imagined seems to belong to everyone except you. Without realizing it, we become collectors of evidence. We tally every unanswered email, every closed door, every delay, every disappointment, convincing ourselves they’re pieces of a larger story. Before long, we’ve mistaken a season for a sentence. We begin believing that because something hasn’t happened yet, it never will. I sometimes wonder if we’re all just waiting for life to send us a confirmation email before we’re willing to believe something wonderful is on its way. But when you think about it, nearly everything meaningful in life begins before there is proof. No one has evidence that they’ll meet the love of their life. No entrepreneur knows with certainty their business will succeed. No parent holds their newborn knowing exactly who they’ll become. We plant gardens before flowers bloom. We buy plane tickets before the vacation exists. And, if we’re being honest, some of us have bought the shoes before we had anywhere to wear them. Our lives are filled with small acts of faith we barely notice. Maybe faith isn’t as foreign as we think. Maybe we’ve been practicing it all along. What if faith isn’t the absence of questions, but the decision that unanswered questions don’t get the final word? What if it’s choosing not to confuse uncertainty with impossibility? Lately, I’ve been realizing that faith doesn’t ask me to ignore reality. It simply asks me not to let today’s reality convince me it is tomorrow’s certainty. And if history is any indication, a few months from now I’ll probably reread these words and smile, realizing they weren’t meant just for you after all. E CAMPERS &CAVIAR Learning the Art of Living Well Hope Must Have Faith By Serafina Valentine I sometimes wonder if we’re all just waiting for life to send us a confirmation email before we’re willing to believe something wonderful is on its way.
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