Don’t get me wrong. Other mistakes will be made. I am not perfect nor is my quest for faith.

There can and should be room in our world for both the formalized, historic rituals of faith and for me to BLEEPING wing it at home. God (or Good) is that big, that all encompassing. If you’re put off from faith by the complexities of religion as I have been, it’s okay to start small and start from home.

The Universe be like: Take it or leave it, sweethearts.

And to a certain extent, life seems to be a matter of how well we take it and how well we leave it, ideally while being sweethearts to ourselves and each other. 

Losing innocents to rage, fear, illness, or accident is heartbreaking for those they leave behind. I think the most healing path forward is to embrace Good (or God) to foster growth and change in our lives in whatever shape that takes, either for ourselves or for a cause we believe in.

Better that than sitting in the dark. 

Some people believe you should be able to say a prayer once, and if you’re faithful enough, put the issue down and walk away from it knowing God (or Good) will address it.

Sounds real nice, but I am definitely not there yet. 

I’m committed to doing less and letting God do more. It will be an interesting exercise, no question, and I look forward to providing a full report as it all unfolds. 

Praying for me yet? You better be.

You can fill in the blank with whatever profanity you feel, just like Madlibs.

Lately, I have been preoccupied with the perils of confusing self-improvement, therapy, or the pursuit of happiness with attempts to become better or more pure. 

Faith is self-reinforcing. A little bit goes a long way. Just a tiny bit with an open mind and a crazy heart willing to believe and we start seeing Good (or God) everywhere.

The crux of the issue when it comes to setting boundaries and why people without faith are often SO bad at this is because we don’t actually know who we are, what we want, what we need, and why we deserve it. 

If there can be 10 different kinds of Cheerios these days, why can’t we also have a faith that is tailor-made for each of us and helps us believe in better? 

God is not the owner of a convenience store ready and available to satisfy our immediate desires. When making a request of Good, God, or humanity, we have to let them mull over the request, we have to let Good (or God) work in their hearts and minds, and see what happens.

Faith is really very simple. Do we believe in Good (or God) or not? Are we willing to act as if we do for an hour, a day, a week, a month and see what happens? That’s kind of all it takes as a starting point.

Sometimes the Universe sets us up to fail, and that is really BLEEPING annoying.

Faith isn’t really about purity, it’s about protection for the hero on our journey. 

I will acknowledge to any cynics out there that this could very well just be because I am consciously or unconsciously reframing circumstances, situations, and outcomes in my own brain and then just attributing them to a higher Good (or God) and in reality nothing mystical is happening, but WHO CARES? Seriously, who cares?

Never before had I considered that the time I have spent wishing I was elsewhere or believing that my life should be different has been a way to avoid myself. It has been an expression of my own lack of self-acceptance. 

What happens if we choose faith first? What happens if we decide to believe we might be worthy, then start doing the work? 

One of the traps we all fall into is trying to get life right. There are a whole lot of shoulds in a miserable person’s life… Should we all try to be decent human beings? Sure, yes, of course. Are we all going to make mistakes? Most definitely. Is anyone living a perfect life? Nope, not a single person on the planet.

The important part is allowing ourselves the opportunity to have faith in its simplest form, which is just to say a prayer no matter where we are, what we’re doing, right in the here and now when we need help.