Story provides great representation of character trait.

The August Character Trait is Faith. The story below, author unknown, from the Character First website depicted the character trait so well that it is worth sharing.

Journey of Faith

Faith looked over her shoulder and saw a figure running up the trail. As she continued her climb, the figure caught up with her.

“Greetings,” he said, after coming within earshot.

Faith returned the greeting, and the two continued on together. At length, Presumption, for that was his name, said, “Can we not go faster? It feels like we’ll never get there at this rate.”

Faith smiled, explained how long journeys require consistent effort, and warned how easily a person can overrun his or her bearings and become lost. Presumption wasn’t satisfied, but he didn’t want to leave Faith’s company, and he walked quietly for a while.

As night fell, they came to the edge of a cliff. Faith’s map indicated the trail to the right led to a bridge that would take them on their way. As they walked along the cliff, they came to a tree that appeared to have fallen across the chasm. Presumption immediately assumed this was the bridge, but Faith pointed out that a large boulder marked the bridge they sought.

“Someone probably moved it,” Presumption argued. He was getting tired of Faith’s methodical observations. “Besides, doesn’t faith mean you are supposed to follow your heart?”

Unable to dissuade Faith, Presumption began working his way along the tree trunk, and Faith soon found the bridge and continued on her way, but she never saw Presumption again.

Most people do not reject the truth from lack of evidence but because they want to interpret the evidence in a way that supports their conclusions. Discern and faithfully follow the roadmap of integrity, whatever the temptation to take a shortcut.