Belief

To believe in someone.

What does that actually mean to say I believe in you? Does it mean I believe in your abilities? Your talent? Your character? 

And does that mean that I expect something from you - that I believe that I know how you will behave - what you will or won't do?

I said it to my kid. And what I meant was that I will support him - that I will be there for him and that I believe he will be who he's supposed to be. That he will come through. When it counts.  

So can that belief be shaken? Or taken? Or is it like respect - given not earned.  

Is this kind of belief faith? Or something else? Devotion? Determination? Actualization? A seed of prayer?

For my boy, it does mean I *know* he'll come through. And I'll be praying for him.