.and the greatest of these is love.

...heretical rantings of the day...

Today, I was thinking about religion, and it astounds me to think how shocked some of my more conservative religious acquaintances/friends/family members, etc. would be at the state of my piety currently. I can see myself from their eyes, and what I look like from the outside is, well, the epitome of a heretical agnostic or even *gasp* an atheist. I have not been to mass since Christmas, I haven't read the Bible in who knows how long, etc. etc.

It's funny, though, because I find it hard to find God (or god, or Allah, or Gaia, or Zeus, or whatever, because, really, let's face it, they are all the same thing) sitting on an uncomfortable pew, or in the pages of a text that spouts genealogies and tries to warn me of the second coming. Don't get me wrong, there are many good stories in the Bible, and I love the psalms, and parables. I just find it hard to find God in a text that claims that women are the chattel of their husbands/fathers/brothers.

No, I find God in the purple crocuses I saw peeping up from the crusted New England soil. I find God in the splash of reds and oranges I saw in the Adirondacks this fall. I find God in my family. I find God in my friends. I find God in Claire. I find God in hugs and smiles and kisses. I find God in the still moments watching a movie on the couch with friends or family. I find God in snorkeling and seeing a massive sea turtle pass by. I find God in the worn pages of my books that I have read over and over. I find God in a song from a musical that gives me goosebumps. I find God in the smell of rain and snow. I find God in everything that I see, every day. Why would I need a specific religion to tell me where or how I should see God? And yes, I do find God in church, because I love the songs, and the community. And I do find God in the Bible, because I know that, in the end, "these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."




Cheers