Faith: Acceptance, Encouragement, and Forgiveness

Faith Through Respect and Kindness

My faith is all around. It's present in my home, school, parish, and community. I live out my faith, but it is not just about going to mass and pray. It is so much more. Loving one another and respecting each other, is something that I have been living by thanks to my faith that is displayed all around me. It has influenced me in the way I think and act. The little acts of faith and kindness do make a big difference in the way you view things.

One way I view things differently because of my faith, would be on how I interact with others. My support towards others comes into play when anyone I know has a dream to chase. Everyone has dreams, but dreams can not become reality without the support you receive from others. I really do think that everyone is capable of doing great things. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its entire life believing that it is stupid. I believe it’s important to believe in others and encourage them to pursue their dreams and believe they can do it. I believe that my faith has helped me to live out the meaning of 'treating others how you want to be treated.'

Acceptance Through Faith

Just because there's someone who thinks differently, looks different, or acts differently, I am not going to treat them any different from anyone else. I’m sure there are some few people we know that were really not the best at making good choices, but we still need to respect them anyway despite their actions. God made all of us in his likeness and image, therefore I believe that we should treat each other equally and lovingly just as he did for us. My faith has helped me to show acceptance and forgiveness towards others even if it's hard. Just like God forgives us we should forgive others and accept them as a person.

Personality goes a long way when it comes down to accepting individuals; however, a cover can oftentimes hide a person's true colors. It is important that we learn how to respect people even when we do not like the way they carry themselves or react in a specific situation. Little is the knowledge we possess about a person’s personal life. Therefore, we should not judge them because of their personality. As humans age through time, the necessity of accepting others is yet an issue. Occasionally, we all struggle with acceptance, but others have more tolerance than others. I am sure that my faith has helped me to show acceptance towards others. We should not judge right away and we should definitely not make assumptions about others. We don’t know their story and don't understand the reason to why they decided to walk on that path. It all comes to listening to one another and hear their journey.

Power of Forgiveness in Personal Growth

We all encounter different situations where we build up negative issues and feel the need to clear the clutter out in order to grow. For that, we all need some help from the people who surround us. This clearing process is what I like to call ‘‘Forgiveness’’. To forgive is to set a prisoner free from their past, and allow them to start again. In the Bible, Jesus says, “forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven”(Matthew 18:22). Being forgiving towards others gives you the ability to remove negative thoughts from others and even yourself. Anytime someone asks for forgiveness, I know that forgiving is what God calls me to do.