This I Believe

I believe in God. I believe that God is expressed in everything that has life, from the smallest blade of grass to the greatest concept of man. He is the divine impulse that motivates all life. God is helping and guiding us in all we do. In reality, He is working through us, urging us on, giving us confidence to undertake the tasks that are set before us to do. I believe that God plants the seed of faith in all of us, for I have been conscious of it growing within me.

St. Paul defines faith so simply: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The goals toward which we press are often not visible. Paul lived in a time of confusion, strife, hatred, and cruelty. At first, he was part of this strife, but when his eyes were opened after his vision on the road to Damascus, he understood what was not understood before. And with the tools of his new faith, he worked to establish the church of God, where man could be lifted out of the darkness of hate and war, into the light of Christ’s concept of man’s love for man.

In 1939, the world was again torn by strife and war. Forces of destruction seemed to be crushing out life itself, and soon our own children were drawn into the conflict. Years before, my husband and I had built our Scandinavian-styled home in Wisconsin, and now with war and destruction on all sides, there came an impulse that would not be denied: to complete our home with a tiny chapel, a sanctuary of peace for meditation and prayer. We decided to pattern it after the fifteenth century Norwegian stave [kirken]. Our former lives had in no way prepared us for what lay ahead. We knew practically nothing of woodcarving, wood finishes, painting on plaster, all of the crafts that were later used. But God fashioned our hands to fit these tasks. We wanted everything within the chapel to express peace; every mural to be painted, every piece of wood to be carved must suggest this thought, either by symbol or interpretation.

During the following nine years, these ideas developed and gradually took form. As year by year this work progressed, my husband and I became conscious that while we were building the physical tools, the chapel was building the spiritual tools. I believe that God is the guiding impulse in all creative work and that such work is in itself re-creative, whether it be within the life of the artist, the architect, the mason, the statesman, or whoever is in any way building a better world for the future.

I believe if we work steadfastly with the tools God has given us to use, this future will be full of opportunities for enriching not only our own lives, but those of others. I believe that if everyone will work for peace and pray for peace, it can be realized.