A lawyer describes rejecting the rigid language of her upbringing to find faith in a simpler idea: if it's love, it's God. She learned that separation is the real problem, and that atheists, Christians, and others can all point toward the same thing when they choose connection and elevate each other.
Chapters
I want to share something that I think is really important for me that you've taught me. You taught me two things. One was a conversation you had with your tia where she, where you were questioning other people's practices and you were like, oh, but I don't know how to discern. Is that God? Is that not God? And your Thea told you, if it's love, it's God, right? It's all God if it's love. And then you just said that right now, like it's all God. And for me, I was very rebellious with language because I am a woman of words. Words matter to me. I am very careful with my words. I want to articulate clearly. I am a lawyer. Words define a lot of things. So I was always very careful with my choice of words because I didn't want to be a hypocrite, I didn't want to be judgmental. There was a lot of things about, there was a lot of discrepancies. So I rejected a lot of words. And what ended up happening, and you said this at the beginning, was one, you're either in one prison or the other prison. I was a prisoner of having to create separation because our words were different. And I was taking those words so literally that I couldn't connect to some of the words. And first you told, you taught me that God is love, but then you taught me that the biggest discrepancy with God is separation. Right? Separation is the, is the, is the death of, of harmony. The one and only problem there is the only one. Right? Thank you. And then those two things combined invited me to consider what if your words and my words are arriving at the same place? And I think that's when you would say you're the best Christian I know is because I was a woman who was really trying to integrate a principle based life. But Christianity is all about principles. Jesus Christ taught principles. There was other people who have taught principles also. In my humble opinion, he's not the only person that taught principles. But Jesus Christ taught incredible principles. And I was a woman of principle. So of course I can be Christ. Like, I love the guy, he's amazing. And today I get to be a person who can connect with someone who is atheist and principle driven because they use a different language. And I can connect and be with a disciple of Jesus. And I'm right there with them because of, despite the language they use. Because in my mind, it's all love, it's all connected. It's all about being a good human, about connecting with people, about elevating each other, inspiring each other, supporting each other, feeding off of each other, guiding our way to the light instead of the darkness. And as long as we're doing that, then I am a woman of faith. Amen. Amen to that. You are a woman of faith.
