This week's exercise is a repeat of the Remembering Faith exercise. Our Thanks to Lisa Johnson for this exercise.

This time of year is special to people from all cultures. From the ancient Winter Solstice through to Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa, this is a time of year for many to celebrate and reflect. People have different faiths to give meaning to their lives, and to help them through the rough times. (Even atheists have beliefs: they may believe in people, in love, in philosophies, using these to guide their lives.)

I'm sure, though, no matter what your beliefs are, that everyone has experienced faith at some point in their lives. This exercise is one of our "Remembering" exercises. This time, look back to a time in your life when you have experienced or benefited from faith. It could be something that shows faith in action, an incident that demonstrates true faith, or an example of how faith helped you . It can be faith in a person, faith in God or a higher power, faith in the system, or even faith in yourself.

Write your submission honestly and remember what you experienced, how you felt. Don't make things up, just be honest. Sometimes you can gain faith from bad things that happen.

So the exercise: in 400 words or less, describe a moment in your life when you've experienced faith.

Have fun!

Florence Cardinal's wrap-up
Posted on: January 6, 2004

Not too many subs this week, but each sub received several critiques, which is good.

Again, a variety of faiths - and unfaiths, faith in many things, from God and higher powers to things like the judicial system, nature and friends and family.

But this exercise had a two-fold purpose. As well as being a lesson in remembering and writing, I'm hoping it gave you all faith in yourselves as people and as writers. No matter the topic, know you've done well. Have faith that your writing and life will improve day by day.

Remember - whether you believe you can do it, or believe you can't, you're right. And that, in a nutshell, is faith.

Florence