Mar 2 - "The Tooth Fairy"

Mark 3:7-19a
"Jesus parted with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him; hearing all that He was doing, they came to Him in great numbers... He told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him because of the crowd, so they would not crush Him; for He had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon Him to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and shouted, 'You are the Son of God!'. But He sternly ordered them not to make Him known."
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Yesterday afternoon, our youngest daughter Eliza lost a tooth. Well...she didn't actually lose it. She came into my office and pointed out how much it was dangling from its spot in the front of her mouth and asked me to finish the job. I, of course, obliged, being the only one in our household with the stomach for the task.

As soon as the tooth had been removed from its precarious position, her thoughts immediately turned to the Tooth Fairy. Not the really bad movie we saw a few weeks, back, but the wily sprite who would bring her a dollar coin that night while she slept, in exchange for the tooth. As silly as it may sound that a dainty pixie would somehow get into our house last night, hauling a bag of coins and an arrangement of teeth from previous stops, her faith in this sequence of events is unwavering. She believes.

Why does she believe? Probably a few simple reasons. One, Greta and I have told her that it will happen. Two, she has seen evidence that it is true via her older sisters' similar de-dentification and receipt of coin, as well as her own previous experience. Three, even while her ever-evolving awareness of the realities of the world push her toward the unlikelihood that this magic is real, there is something inside her which is beyond the telling, beyond the evidence; Faith.

Why do we believe?

We all have our times when our faith feels very strong, unwavering. Other times, it is shaken to the core and we feel alone, wondering if God really exists, if Christ truly walked this Earth. Yes, we have evidence. We have heard of and seen miracles; we feel the presence of God in a shockingly gorgeous Autumn day; our prayers answered. But, wouldn't it be easier if God just showed up on our doorstep one day, with Christ standing beside Him?

Why would Christ tell the demons who had no faith, but had a clear knowledge of His role in Eternity, to keep quiet and not disclose His true being? Wouldn't it have been easier for Him and for all of us if He allowed the Heavenly Host to come down and provide clear evidence of His nature and who He was?

But, alas, that easy road. It's always the same. Easy is not special; easy is not meaningful; easy does not refine or improve; easy is...just...easy.

Faith is a hard thing. But it is the thing that adds the final layer of confirmation onto the foundation of what we are told and what we have been able to see as slim peeks at evidence of existence. Faith is the thing that makes us more than a bag of bones, more than a loose and random assembly of atoms and molecules. Faith distinguishes us from the rest of Creation.

So, believe in that which you cannot see. Have Faith. For in that faith, the impossible becomes possible and the unreal becomes real. Faith allows us to know a secret which, when woven deeply into the fabric of our existence, gives us the power to become ones who lay the foundations for others' faith. We become a part of that which is Holy and by increasing the ability for others to have faith, our own faith grows.