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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Team God









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Aria Fotografia on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Common

A few days ago, as I was sitting in my living room writing, two smiling grey-haired women knocked on my front door. They handed me a pamphlet titled "Would You Like to Know the Truth?" and told me it had answers to many of the questions people ask about life and about God.

A few years ago I would have been angry and resentful that they interrupted my writing time to try to push their God on me. I would have mocked their pamphlet as full of opinions masquerading as "The Truth." I would have torn it apart, bit by bit, with my intellect, before tearing it apart, bit by bit, with my hands. I would have gleefully watched the remains flutter into the trash, but I would have held on to my bitterness and hurt that they couldn't accept me, and that their God didn't love me, as I am.

So, it felt odd to take the pamphlet and smile at them, a genuine smile this time, and wish them a good day. I know the God of those smiling women is not my God, and I know that their truth is not my truth. What I call God — a sense of deep peace and strength inside me, of connectedness to others, of light and energy inside us all and of life vibrating with transcendent love and beauty — may not seem like God at all to other people. But I can see that has become less threatening to me, because in that moment, I didn't need to have those women accept my God or reject theirs in order to feel comfortable.

We each had a different vision of God and Truth, but we were each, in our own way, doing our best to pursue a life of love, meaning, charity and greater purpose. And I thought to myself as they walked off, "It's all good. We're all on Team God."

This post was originally published at The Second Road on October 25, 2008.
Posted by at 6:01 AM
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2 comments:

  1. I did something very similar to this last year when a local person came to our (then new) home with a pamphlet. I graciously accepted it, said "thank you" and left it be. It's no longer making me angry as well and that's such a nice feeling!
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  2. Sunshine MorningstarOct 27, 2008 12:48 AM
    Even if the people with pamphlets made me angry I'd never be able to tell them off. For awhile Jai and I were getting visitors every second Saturday. Sometimes when they find out your name they come back again and again. This past Thursday two young men in suits knocked at the door and I thanked them when they gave me their pamphlet...but I've discovered a great way to rebuff any extra talk they might want to share. I pinch the baby and bring him to the door crying. Just kidding, haha!! But I do bring him to the door and if there are ladies at the door they want to coo over his cuteness. If there are men at the door they say something like, "Oh I see you're busy!" It's a good plan :)
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