Where do you find meaning in life?

Do you find meaning in life at all?

If you answer “I don’t know” to either (or both!) of these questions, you’re not alone. You’re just one of many who struggle to make sense of a world that can feel cold, uncaring, meaningless.

Dispiriting, no? But there’s good news to be found amid the despair. If you know where to look, you can find meaning in the everyday. Try hard enough and this kernel of understanding could blossom into something more: true fulfillment.

For many of us, finding meaning in existence requires a leap of faith. Finding meaning means first finding faith. 

But wait, you say. Isn’t faith something that’s taught in families, houses of worship, parochial schools? Faith can’t possibly be something to acquire later in life, after we’ve become set in our habits and made our peace with the ways of the world.

That’s what you think. Any of us — all of us — have the capacity to find faith at any age and at any phase of our lives. We just need to know where to look for it.

We’ll save that discussion for another day. Right now, let’s review the benefits of taking the next step and resolving to find faith at any stage of life.

  1. Faith Makes Us Stronger

Faith gives us the strength to manage the challenges we face every day. It also empowers us to face bigger challenges that can feel overwhelming or numbing, like the death of a loved one or the breakup of a relationship. With faith, coping becomes easier.

  1. Faith Can Help You Do Great Things

Faith is a source of inspiration and encouragement. It draws out the very best in us, daring us to do great things with our lives. Examples of this are all around us — like the spiritual journey of Mike Signorelli, founding pastor of New York-based V1 Church, who found faith later in life and uprooted his life to answer the call. 

  1. Faith Puts Things in Perspective

Faith helps us see that even while our lives may not be perfect, we have so much to be thankful for and to celebrate. Faith has a way of putting things in perspective, of allowing us to see the positive in the everyday.

  1. Faith Compels Us to Do Good Works in Our Communities (And Beyond)

By putting things in perspective and allowing us to see more clearly the plight of our less fortunate brothers and sisters, faith is a powerful source of support for those who need it. Faith compels us to do good works in our communities and, if we so choose, far beyond them as well. 

  1. Faith Can Be a Stress Reliever

Faith is a source of strength and moral support in the everyday. It can also be a great reliever of stress. Faith and belief give us an outlet for the frustrations and questions that build up day after day in the course of our lives. While it cannot magically make these sources of stress go away, it can give us the tools to process them and help us avoid the negative, circular thinking that raises stress and makes us less productive.

  1. Faith Could Help You Live Longer

Scientists and faith leaders alike are fascinated by the connection between worship and longer life. While you can find smart people willing to argue either side of the question, some studies hint at a connection between longer life and active worship or membership in communities of faith. The “why” is less clear, but some believe the strong support networks present in faith communities have something to do with it. 

  1. Faith Is Infectious

Communities of faith thrive and grow because faith and belief are infectious. All it takes to sow the seed of a new faith community is one believer willing to joyously spread the good news. Some of those who hear this news respond by spreading it throughout their own social networks, expanding the happy cycle.

  1. Faith Brings Inner Peace

Faith is a “centering” force that allows us to reflect and grow in a state of inner peace. As we’ve seen, faith can’t solve all our problems right away, but it does put us in a better place to do so ourselves.

Find Your Inner Truth This Year

Any one of these reasons should be enough to convince you that it’s never too late to find meaning in life. That it’s never too late to find faith.

That you should take the next step in your journey toward greater understanding. Toward a renewed sense of humility. Toward the inner peace that comes only with true belief.

Enough with the excuses. Your journey begins as soon as you’re ready. And it’s high time you were ready.