Life and love

I celebrated Easter as an "insider" for nearly 6 decades.
I have now celebrated a dozen more Easters as an outsider.  
Landing outside those religious walls came as a total shock to me and a source of great sadness. But then I began sorting and soul-searching and seeking for truth and figuring out what I really believe and which things are worth building my life on... 

Jesus ends up at the top of my list.  

I want to follow his words and his example. 

I want to love like he loved.  
I want to be a person of grace.

I had just been pondering something I wrote during those years in exile…  about the fact that I often find myself stuck "in the middle" between friends at opposite ends of the spectrum.  Sure enough this pandemic where we currently find ourselves is one of those times when lines have been drawn and I find myself with friends on both extremes.  

In some ways and at some times, the middle is a good place to be, but there are other times when I might need to lean one way or the other.  Sometimes it's tough to know which way to lean.

Naturally I tend to err on the side of caution.  

But I hope that I also err on the side of love and compassion and kindness and grace.  The side of life and love and health and healing.  That's the direction I want to lean.

I guess you could say that is my religion.

That's how I want to live my life.