Me

In writing my last post, I (knowingly) ran the risk of sounding as though I am some sort of living saint, bemoaning how far behind me the rest of the Christian population is with their faith. Au contraire. I think that part of my ability to sense defects with our faith is the fact that I’ve experienced them myself.

As a younger child, it was difficult for me to grasp the concept of God because of the lack of plain, concrete “evidence” around me. And while my mother is and has been a very spiritual person, I was raised outside of any church community. As I understand it, she felt that faith need not be connected to a presence at any time or place. Furthermore, it was not something we really discussed.

Yet as I got a bit older, I visited various churches from time to time with extended family and friends, and I began to pick up the messages of God’s love for us and our obligation to extend that love on Earth as well as we are able. I can’t say that there was a particular moment of epiphany, but gradually, it all began to solidify and make sense to me. Even though my life is not always easy or carefree, things in my life constantly seem to turn out for the best and consequentially, I have developed a sense of security – that I am cared for by God.

I think that this order extends across the world and history. Things like the Hagia Sophia or Montreal's Notre Dame, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Stradivarius violins, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, or paintings by Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, and VanGogh are not from a world of coincidental particle collision and genetic mutation – but rather, serve as a testament to a divine influence and aegis.