Jump In

Confidence. Trust. Reliance.

These are synonyms for "faith," and as Mormons, we believe that the first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I was a little girl and afraid of water (one of my zillion fears), my dad would stand in the swimming pool, I would stand at the edge, and he would exercise his best powers of persuasion, enticing me to exercise my confidence, trust, and reliance on him by jumping into the water. The promise was that he would be there to reach out and grab me, saving me from certain death by drowning.

Faith, confidence, trust and reliance all hint at something more than belief: they move beyond simple belief into the arena of action. In order to exhibit my faith in my dad, I had to jump in. In order to exhibit faith in Jesus Christ, one also has to act. In reality, faith is more a verb than a noun.

Personally, faith in Christ means the willingness to do what he asks all his followers to do-- repent, forgive, serve, and obey.

As a mother, faith in Christ means the willingness to raise my children (God's children, on loan for a while) his way, not my way. I begin by first having those children. Then I have the faith to set the world aside and focus on them, my most important task in life. In that focusing I teach them to pray; to love the scriptures; to love each other; to do all the things, on a child's scale, the Savior expects from all of us. And as they absorb these teachings, they begin to love the Lord and exercise personal faith in him.

I'm grateful for Mormon parents who taught me faith in Christ. I'm grateful for my children, who are teaching their children the same. And I'm grateful for the Savior, who gives us the great invitation to jump in, trusting that He is there to reach out and save us.