The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with a strong and active faith.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt-
Doubt is sometimes called a crisis of faith and it haunts me in just about everything that I do. Whether I’m doing household chores or setting resolutions, I constantly question whether I am doing the right things and if I’m doing them in the right order. I’m also consistently worried that my past actions are mistakes that will prove fatal to my hopes for the future.
These fears became painfully apparent during the process of being my home this last year and during my first 6 months of being a home-owner. I was racked with doubt and fear on a daily basis. I convinced myself that I had made a bad investment and one day, upon returning from work, I would find my home in flames and/or my basement flooded.
FDR’s quote hits close to home for me and provides a lot of encouragement. He wrote it as the last line of an address to the citizens of the United States on Jefferson’s Birthday. The words are not written lightly or with naive idealism. He was to address a nation waging war against the Japanese in the Pacific and against the Germans and Italians in Europe. In addition, he was battling acute congestive heart failure after years of being disabled by polio. These words were formed in a great mind and forged by decades of resilience in the face of hardship and failure. In fact, he never delivered the address because he died of a brain hemorrhage soon after writing his last edit.
His life and writings define faith not as the opposite of doubt, but rather it’s result. They also remind us that faith can only become strong and active when it is put under the great pressure of trying circumstance.
So, Don’t Stop…Believing…Hold on to that feeling.
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