Today I found out what faith is, and what faith isn't.

Faith isn't a televangelist with perfect hair and three houses who drives a porsche. Faith isn't "God will make you prosperous and pretty like me."

Faith isn't the white middle class lady dressed up in church looking down on the new girl with a scarlet letter over her heart. Faith isn't the words she'll whisper about the girl she barely knows.

Faith isn't the preacher who turns away two men because they love each other or the pastor who closes the door on a family because of the color of their skin.

Faith is a boy slumped over and tired with so much going on in his life that he can't handle any more but he gets up every morning and lives anyway and puts on brave face and tries to help the people around him even if he can't help himself through his dark night of the soul.

Faith is the girl sitting next to him with mess hair and love written on her wrist in scar tissue singing to God even though she doesn't think he's listening and hairy legs because her mom took the razor so she couldn't cut herself and more and racing thoughts because she was just diagnosed bipolar.

And faith is her friend across the city who's hoping her mom won't try to kill herself again and maybe she'd stop doing drugs and come home and that maybe her big brother wouldn't hit her anymore. and faith is when she still says the serenity prayer every day because she still believes.
Because in essence we are not defined by the la-de-da easy times. Anyone can get up and keep living while the sun is shining. But it takes something real to dance in the rain, to still believe in an Alaskan winter with no northern lights and only darkness. And in the end that's what makes us or breaks us because it's then when we sink or swim. Because it's then when we find our own colors or fade into the background.