Calm

I was video chatting with my family this afternoon, and took a screen shot of my father out in the yard.  I loved the colour of the sky — it’s been grey and cloudy here for a few days, and this blue was just so lovely.  He’s been complaining that he looks old with his hair white, and I think it looks great.  He is, thankfully, in good health and has a find appetite, so I thought I’d share his photo with everyone.  I’m being a dog bed in the little shot of me, and I wasn’t allowed to move for well over an hour (the time I spent talking to everyone)  Don is again glued to his hockey game, and from the occasional noises that I hear, his team is doing well; apparently so is his baseball team, but I confess that I really am not paying attention to the games.  I’m deep in one of my books, so I see and hear nothing that’s going on around me.  That changes rapidly if I’m petted by the dog — he’s very persistent until he gets what he wants!

I’ve been asked several times what is important to me, and I manage to identify a few things.  One of them is my faith, and I’ve explained that it provides me with an anchor in my life.  I have several friends who do not share that sentiment, and who think that it’s a flaw in me to trust in a “magic system” (as they call it, when they’re being polite) I’ve been asked if I really believe that prayers are answered, and why would I trust in an “invisible sky wizard” (again, when they’re being polite-ish). Can I, they sneer, actually point to a direct result of the action of this magical being that wouldn’t be accounted for by logic?  It’s one of those questions that is designed to be a trap. Therefore I tend to ignore both the questioner and the question. I also realized that there are some people whose beliefs make me feel very uncomfortable.  Some of them, on the surface at least, claim to share my own, but in such an unusual way that I don’t see any links.  Equally some of them don’t accept my interpretations as they go through their days.  Many of them are televangelists.  I look at many of them as untrustworthy in many ways… after hearing one claim that he avoided commercial travel because he felt, “surrounded by demons” then he asked his followers to contribute to buy him a new private plane, I felt that they were less committed to Christianity and more devoted to cash.  I realized that watching some of them on TV led to me feeling anger… the thing is, there are some regular church goers who are brilliant examples of what it does not mean to be Christian, of many denominations.  They are often convinced of their own goodness, even as they exude and preach hate.  It’s sad that so many studies show that people tend to equate church goers with hatred, driving more away.

Of course, there are some people whose lives are shining examples of goodness, regardless of their religion (or lack thereof.)  I know many good people who have deep faith whose prayers I believe are powerful. I honestly believe in the maxim, “by their fruit you shall know them” as I believe that the loving spirit of good people shines through regardless of their belief system.  My thoughts on who gets to heaven are that entry is not limited to baptized Christians but to all those who have practiced what was taught — those whose lives show that they understand what it means to love thy neighbours. I do not hate church goers — that would be hypocritical of me at the very least!  I would much prefer that the preachers teach love, live their lives as examples of love, and not create walls while pretending to show love.  I’d love it if preachers — both lay and ordained — recognized the power they have to affect the lives of others (we all have that power to a greater or lesser extent!) and practiced love instead of division.  When we start labelling people, it’s a way of developing hatred, and we should truly be mutually respectful of other views and tolerant of differences instead of assuming that they’re wrong and attacking them.

Let’s work on being loving, shall we?  And not on hating and lashing out.  And now I’m off to bed.  I have an early appointment in the morning, so I’m trying to get some sleep so I’m not too exhausted in the morning.  Good night!