The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.

Belief that has never been tested fades at the first hard weather. What holds is the kind that started as a conviction and was then put through something difficult, so that it is no longer an opinion but a thing you have seen work. That is why people who have been through a lot are often the least anxious about their principles and the least interested in arguing about them.

Look at something you believe and ask when it last cost you anything. If the answer is never, find the small occasion this week to act on it where acting is inconvenient, and let the belief earn its colour.