Naked faith

Faith is more resilient than optimism.

But naked faith fails to hold the same saccharine attraction as faith accessorized by bubbly emotion and self-generated stick-to-it-iveness.

When those outer trappings are stripped away, all that remains is plain spoken, rawboned determination. A pioneer spirit. One that persists, but doesn't soar. A pilgrim's progress.

This modest garment of faith will never walk the red carpet. It will never sign autographs or become the whispered tabloid buzz of a thousand coffee-stirred conversations. It will never capture the fleeting attention of the masses.

But it will entirely transform the lives of a handful. Those of us who are standing up close enough to see it, and the dirt in its details.

And the magnetism of that small, quiet transformation is more powerful and impacting than all the sugar-glue in the world. It may not be pretty, but it's beautiful. Beyond words. Beyond understanding.

And certainly beyond optimism.