NOT TREADING WATER ANYMORE

NOT TREADING WATER ANYMORE

Some years ago I attempted to water ski.  I got up on the skis just fine, but after a very short time, I fell off.  Everyone was asking what happened when it seemed as though I was doing great?  I shrugged because I didn’t want to say what happened.

The truth was, I was afraid of being out on that lake in such a vulnerable way. I love to swim and I love Lake Michigan, but I never allow myself to be in a position where I can’t touch the bottom.

The first time I read something that contradicted a religious principle I had been taught, I suddenly felt as though I couldn’t touch the bottom.  I was confused and upset, but I had to know, so I went in search of an answer.  Honestly, I did a lot of praying to the Spirit, which at that time was rare.  Once I got an answer I could live with, I decided to press on and research other things.  For quite a while I was in deep water, but I kept treading.  I learned that, though not mutually exclusive, religion and faith are not the same thing.  The more I studied I came to the conclusion that faith leads one to religion, not the other way around.  At least not for me. I believe that questioning is not a sin, but is instead, the path to growth.

As I peeled away the layers of religious training I had had since I was a little girl, God and Jesus took center stage. I realized I was developing a deep and personal relationship with Jesus. I felt as though I were walking with Him, listening to Him and observing all the people around Him.  Now my feet were firmly planted on the bottom. That’s how I would explain how it feels when you know God is truly with you and helping you, you just know it.  

To maintain the metaphor, once I had a firm grip on my own spiritual life, it’s been like diving the Great Barrier Reef.  I found one beautiful thing after another.  The loving, patient, forgiving God has taken over my life.  The vengeful, terrifying God of the Hebrew Scriptures has faded away. 

God gave us our minds and intellect to use in his service.  Finding answers to questions does not diminish one’s relationship with God, but instead strengthens it.

Think of the earliest Disciples of Christ.  When they heard Jesus speak in such loving terms about the Father, it touched them deeply and they had to know more and so they stayed with Him.  We need to know more. We can’t keep going from Advent to Lent, Christmas to Easter and call that faith.  We need to dig deeper into the life of Christ and the work of his disciples, of which we are the beneficiaries. This will bring new meaning to our faith.  The bond, which God wants to form with all of us, will then be ours. 

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA