Sometimes you just have to laugh...

Last Sunday I gave a children's sermon that was supposed to get us thinking about faith and how it might be difficult to explain,yet we can still believe.  I asked the kids if they could explain how gravity works.  I asked the kids what would happen if they jumped off their bed...of course they responded that they would fall to the floor.  Then I asked if they could explain how the force of gravity works.  They couldn't explain it and I don't think I could either. My point was that just like we can't explain gravity we might not be able to explain how faith works either.  But, just because we can't explain or define exactly gravity or faith we can see their effects.  I was hoping to get the point across that we can believe and have faith in God even if we can't understand how all that "stuff" works.  Well, I think I failed.  We get home from church and Isaac has a question.  I'm feeling good because I think the fantastic children's sermon stirred something in him and he has a deep theological question...naw...he wants to know how he can jump off the bed and float up the ceiling!  Yup...figuring out a way to defy gravity is more exciting then faith I guess.
Isaac's question did get me thinking though.  Do we take our faith for granted?  Do we just expect our faith to be able to carry us through the difficult times and always be there for us?  Of course we can expect God to always be there, but if we do nothing to strengthen our relationship the connection on our end might get a little bad.  God never moves.  We instead move away from Him when we neglect our relationship with him.  The trick to keeping our faith alive and growing is feeding and strengthening it at all times especially when times are good.  I have a tendency to let my devotional time slide when things are going good in my life, and then when I hit a rough patch I of course tend to read the Bible and pray more.  Silly I know, and then I wonder sometimes why I can't feel God as well when I think I need him the most.  Well, I've neglected the relationship and it takes time again to tune my soul and spirit to God's Spirit.  Again God's Spirit didn't move away from me, I neglected the relationship and had to rebuild it again.
I need to be better about continually building my relationship during the ups and downs.  How about you?  Can you be strengthening your connection now so it's ready and strong when then the rough patches come?