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Living Your Faith

© Karen Mitchell

Living your faith... what exactly does this mean? As a Witch, it's a concept I have struggled with on a regular basis. How do I express my "Wicca-ness" daily while still performing all the routine chores? It seems to be a simple idea, in theory. I believe that "living your faith" means always being true to yourself, your ethics, and your spirituality. Putting such a high ideal into practice, however, can be difficult at times.

Following my formula, the first key towards living your faith is to understand yourself. Listen to your body, and respond to its needs. When you're hungry, eat. Eat things that are good for your body, and keep the junk food in moderation. When you're tired, sleep. Seek happiness. Understand your motivations. Listen to your dreams.

There are days where it isn't easy to understand yourself. Days when all you have time to eat is a candy bar while you're stuck in traffic trying to get home to pick up the kids from daycare. Days when your job makes you profoundly miserable. Days when you fight with your spouse or partner. Days when your dreams seem completely unobtainable.

How do you live your faith on these sorts of days? Perhaps you take some private time to unwind in a bubble bath scented with oils. Perhaps you curl up with a really good book. Honoring yourself, and the fact that you are a child of the Gods, is part of living your faith. Connecting with your personal power as a Priest, Priestess, Initiate, student, or seeker is part of living your faith.

The second key is being true to your ethics. One of my main ethical sticking points these days is vegetarianism. I don't believe that I can follow the Rede and eat meat. At every meal, I get to make that ethical choice about meat. Do I stick to my guns and try to find a salad or some kind of meat substitute? Do I give in to my craving for chicken nuggets because I'm too lazy to cook something? Is instant gratification worth compromising my ethics?

How do you live your faith and be ethical? Do you turn down a job offer because you discover the company dumps waste into local rivers? Do you pick up litter in the park? Do you boycott certain products? This is, I think, the most difficult key of all. Often I find that my ethics and morals don't line up with others'. Is it easy to live your faith when others mock you for it? Or berate you?

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