Top 10 Ways to Improve your Faith Life (If that is something you would like to do.)

1- Picture your best friend in the world. Now imagine that they have really angered you. I mean, made you angry in a way only our very best friends our capable of. What do you say to that person? If you wouldn't be uncomfortable saying that to God, there is plenty of room for your faith life to improve. If you are comfortable saying it, when you get angry, don't quote the ontological argument. In that moment, yell at God. Scream if you need to. God'll still be there when you're ready to come back.

2- The Bible told you to have faith like a child. Anyone who ever told you that meant unquestioning obedience has clearly never been around children. Question everything. A faith that is written in stone is dead.

3- Every friendship is different. Some folks talk on the phone for hours, others go out to events, still others work side by side in silence for days at a time. Just because someone else's idea of praying worked for them doesn't mean it will work for you. Keep experimenting.

4- Religion (ideally) exists to offer tools to equip the faithful, but it is that life of faith, not the tool, that is important. If one form of religion is only hindering your faith life, drop it like a faulty tool and shop for a replacement.

5- Faith is meant to be a source of joy in the good times and strength in the hard times. If it does the opposite, then it isn't faith, but something else entirely.

6- If their version of God is a hateful, vindictive egomaniac and yours is a loving, powerful confidant, then you are worshiping different beings. You may share a religion, but you are not sharing a God. Ignore theirs, and stick to yours.

7- The most powerful evangelical tool in the world is the believer who is a better person because of what they believe. If after seeing your life people still need a sales pitch, then no sales pitch in the world will ever be sufficient. So spare them the pitch, and instead, work on being the joy they want to see.

8- Learn to embrace creation through recreation. A life lived with as much joy as possible is one of the greatest acts of gratitude we can offer to our deity or deities of choice. And if your deity or deities reject joy, then I recommend finding another one.

9- There will always be doubt. It will never go away. That is why we call it faith. If you learn to see it as a hindrance, rather than a failing, you will learn to navigate it, like someone learning to feel their way in the dark. And when your faith is bright and easy, remember your doubt when others struggle with it.

10- Any God worth the paper their holy writings are written on know you as you are. This includes all facets of you, from your physical ability to your gender to your sexuality to your mental capacity. So be honest in your faith in all things. It is a whole lot easier to be truthful with God (as we understand God) when we are equally capable of being truthful with ourselves.

And if that truth right now is that you simply do not have faith, then don't be afraid. Don't try to force it. Because a life of real, vibrant faith can be a powerfully rewarding thing, worth far too much to risk sullying it with cheap knock offs.

Be real in your faith, or lack of faith, to yourself, to others, to the world around you. Eternity isn't going anywhere.