Walking into something without any foresight or knowledge of what may come - having blind faith - is one thing. One difficult thing.
But what about partially blind faith? What about the times when we are aware of the people, the culture of an institution, or even the black-and-white facts involved in certain situations? A great measure of faith is certainly required to walk such situations, but there is not a complete lack of sight or knowledge. I hadn’t considered partially blind faith to be something - let alone something to consider stepping into - until today.
I saw a woman, not much larger than I, walking two dogs that - combined - easily weighed twice as much as she did. The fact that she was petite and walking two large dogs wasn’t what led me to ponder partially blind faith; it was the fact that their leashes were connected to a strap she wore around her hips.
I have walked many dogs on leashes in my lifetime. In fact, I’ve even walked a cat on a leash. I’ve walked boxers, and I’ve walked Great Danes. I’ve trained dogs to walk short-leash and to be obedient off-leash. Despite all of my dog walking experience, I think the very last thing I would consider doing would be to walk any dog on a leash that I wore around my hips.
I used to run with my old boxer when I lived in Tucson. There was always something scurrying across the sidewalk; be it a tarantula or lizard, a distraction seemed to always present itself to her on every run. I would be in the zone, music in my ears, focused on the path before me when suddenly my entire body would jolt toward cacti and agaves because she saw something and therefore had to chase it. She was extremely well-trained, very disciplined, and great on a leash and off…but she was still a dog.
In order for that woman to walk her dogs the way she did, she had to have a great measure of faith in them and in herself. She also knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she buckled that strap around her hips and attached the snap hook to their collars.
She had partially blind faith. She walked into something knowing full well it could be an absolute disaster, yet she had hope in the outcome and confidence in her preparedness, and she walked forth on the designated path bravely.
Partially blind, but still in faith.
I face many things with partially blind faith, often on a daily basis. In fact, we all do. We enter our vehicles knowing the dangers that lie before us on the road, but we have faith that we will reach our destinations. We make career changes knowing the risk that uncharted territory brings, but we have faith that it will work out as it is intended. We walk in relationship with others knowing the risk vulnerability carries, but we pursue them nonetheless.
Our faith may be unconscious, it may be such an inherent thing that we don’t give it a second thought, but it is there, right alongside our awareness of risk.
Partially or completely blind, we live by faith.