I haven't attended regular church services in a very long time. So I am not at all religious in that sense. Growing up, I did, and I had nuns and priests for my teachers every year until I graduated from high school. I believe there's a god, but not that the Bible is literally true. I don't believe god is of a particular race or sex or gender. I can't think of any good reason for why a person would think that matters. I pray pretty much every day, mostly for strength, courage, and understanding. I don't think god finds me parking places or jobs, but what do I know? There have been more than a couple of very odd coincidences in my life. I am not going to rule anything out.
What has stuck with me, what has meant the most to me, regardless of anything else that may or may not be true, is the lessons Jesus taught people about caring for each other, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and treating the one who is different as one of our one. Just as we would want someone to treat us if we were hungry or naked or strangers in a strange land. I regret how very frightful and strange the land I grew up in has become in my lifetime. It's only disheartening on a very good day. On a bad day it's hard to imagine the situation we find ourselves in ending in anything less horrible than a torrent of blood such as we haven't seen since the Civil War.
What has stuck with me is a simple lesson I have thought about a lot over the years. It's something I have tried to live by because I can't really see a better way. Of course, I have often failed spectacularly to live by it. Spectacularly. Like the Hindenberg.
Anyway, what has me thinking of this lately is a photo I keep seeing on the internet. It shows a guy with a bunch of really badly done tattoos, the sort you used to be able to get if you drank enough Night Train Express or Mad Dog 20/20 down on the corner or under the boardwalk. One of these tattoos says "Deus Vult," usually translated as "God Wills It" or "It Is God's Will." It has been the rallying cry and the ruin of many a poor boy for a very long time. Obviously, Christians are not the only ones who have expressed so presumptuous a sentiment. Competition has been lively.
The lesson that these words make me think of comes from the Gospel of Matthew 22: 37-40, which for simplicity I'll quote from the NIV version. Someone asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is.
37. Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This is what I think of when I think of how to know "God's Will." I can only imagine that if I am doing these two things, I cannot be far off. I also figure that, if God has anything more specific in mind for me, I will find it in my path in a way I can't ignore. Like the Samaritan. Like those who have entertained angels unawares.
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