Intro - Tessa

Well, first of all, I must express how new I am to all of this. I recently, after many years (since I was a child to be exact), decided to get back in to practicing my faith. As I've been out of this for so long, and was so young when I last even attended church, you can imagine how much of an incredible eye opener everything I've been involved in has been (bible study, confirmation class, reading and studying in general). I have experienced many different emotions so far on my journey...frustration and confusion, determination and strength, but also excitement and complete and total understanding of my life and where I want it to go. With each new thing I've learned, I've slowly come to realize that I had this in me, buried somewhere deep inside of me, all along.

While reading the introduction, I was a bit overwhelmed at first (of course, this is my first religious book blog!), but I also experienced a bit of understanding about what my own virtues have been and what I'm hoping to achieve as I grow further in my faith. I've never really pondered the word "virtue" or it's meaning...I've never had an opportunity like this to grow in my understanding of the word. But reading about the distinction between natural virtues and supernatural moral virtues really gave me an overall picture as to what I should hope to do as I grow in my faith and what sort of "canvas" I want to set before my daughter as she grows and learns from me.

What I got from the natural vs. supernatural virtues, (for example) is that the natural virtue of religion isn't much without faith. A person can go to church on a regular basis, can practice the rituals that have been passed down from generation to generation because that is what has always been, that is what is instilled in them, but without faith in God, those rituals and customs have little meaning other than tradition. So I feel the natural virtue of religion and the supernatural virtue of faith must go hand in hand in order to live your life as God intended. I also understood that to have faith isn't needing to know how things work...why things are the way they are, but instead of a search for proof, it is simply trusting in God and knowing that there is a reason for everything that is set before us, everything that is asked of us.