Faith activation

I sat outside one evening last week at that twilight time when North Dublin skies become a giant blue flightpath for airport arrivals. Even at this close range, the aeroplanes seem to move slowly, and I think of the passengers and wonder if the flight went well for them, if they’re excited to land or just terrified of ‘what if’. We’ve shown our ticket and walk confidently onboard, ‘I’ve done this before, it will be great! Maybe they’ll be expecting me and offer me business class or first.’

It struck me that sitting down to write or make art is much the same - we’re acting in faith, right? Finding faith takes an act of courage: buying the canvas, journalling one page a day, mixing up a palette. Trusting the vision, hoping for the best, wanting to make something cool, great, loved, or all three.

But as often as we get upgraded, we get moved somewhere crap: we can’t find that brand-new canvas; our writing is so drab we want to throw up; we mix and mix and still can’t get the colour quite right. The panic starts ‘what if what if what if’. The turbulence feels less like excitement and more like danger, and we go checking the pocket in front of us for a sick bag. Our work is not going to be glorious, it’s going to be garbage.

Where’s the faith we packed? Is it in the seat pocket in front of us? And exactly how do we use it? Panicked and desperate, if we are to get through the mess and out the other side, we’ll need to open that paper bag quick, lean forward inelegantly, and retch. Yeah, we hear the groans around us, the judgy unhelpful comments as we throw up more and more. It’s gross, but when creativity gets messy, we need to act fast. Don’t think, just do.

How do you activate your faith amid the turbulence of life?