Showing posts with label Him. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Him. Show all posts

3.28.2012

About religion

I share a lot here...
but not a everything.
One of the things that I rarely speak of is my faith.

Partly because I treat this space as a kinda scrapbook...
Just snapshots and triggers to hold a memories.

More of us as a family, and my part in it... 
less about the just me.

And because it is such a tricky thing... religion.
it is kinda touchy.
it is really personal.
it can be inclusive and exclusive.
it can be judgmental.
it is such and individual journey... faith.

I am not, and may never be... 
a person that feels like I am authoritative enough to write about it.
Not in the beautiful transparent way others do.

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In my own journey through this life, it has ebbed and flowed...
grown and shrank and grown again.

I am finally making it to a place where I am confident in what I believe.
A stronger, more settled faith that feels good.
One that is just right for me.

I finally have a little etching of who God is...
who He is to me and what that means.
He is a lot bigger than I thought before.

I always knew He was huge.
But I had always tried to put it all in a neat little box.

Defined and scripted.
Black and white.
True and not true...
tied in perfect little bow.

When something didn't fit, didn't feel right.
I thought that something was wrong.
With me, with others, with my church, with God.

It made me question things I didn't have to.
Worry about things that I shouldn't.

I am in a different place now.
I have found what is true and right for me.
Growing into a lovely place in my beliefs and my faith.

I have found my small part of this bigger God.
He is way bigger in this human world than I thought before.

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Complex and varied...
Grays and rainbow colors.
A lot less wrongs and a lot more rights.

What is fits for me, doesn't have to fit for anyone else.
It is all just right... however it is packaged.

He is bigger than that box...
bigger than I can understand.

Like the wind, or water...
He fills in the spots that are made for Him.
He just fits.

And like a winding river...
lake or puddle after a hard rain...
like the expansive ocean.

The spaces he fills are different for everyone.

Some peoples' spaces are still neat and tidy...
some are full of interesting artifacts and a little dusty...
some are beautifully defined...
some are just beginning to find their way...
some are old and seasoned...
some are new and tiny.

But they are all more similar than different...
and they are all bigger than just me or us.

The are all beautiful.






5.10.2011

(Great Grand) Mothers Day

Eva has only one great...
a great grandma.
Her name: Eva Marie Shepard

Our monster was named after this wonderful woman.
Great Grandma doesn't like presents.

So on Sunday, I got the monster up extra early...
we were dressed and on the road for the hour drive.

Just so we could go to church with the "old grandma."
(That is what she likes to be called - and we do as she says.)

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I have very little family...
many passed away when I was quite small.
By age 10, I only had one grandma and she died when I was 15.

I have been adopted by Michael's Grandma - Eva.
She calls mem her grand daughter now.
I appreciate that more than she could ever know.

Our monster adores her.
Seeing them together is the best thing in the world.

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On Sunday, they laughed...
baby Eva was shown off to everyone by the older Eva.
And I got to watch.

During services they sang together, clapped together...
and Eva even folded her hand like Grandma during prayer.

Hymnals and eva

The hymnals were a monster favorite.
She turned the pages and touched the notes.

Great Grandma's favorite hymn was sang.
She mentioned that she hadn't heard it in a while.

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The monster laughed and cheered the entire song.
At the end she clapped.

So did the entire pew...