Renewal

I don't talk too much on this blog about religious or spiritual stuff because - well, I'm not really sure why, but I guess I just don't. Is it because those who may actually stumble upon it might think that I'm "weird" or a "religious nut" or a "freak" or something? Hmmm, I never really thought about it all too deeply but in this society of political correctness, I guess I've just conditioned myself to keep it nice and light. Another Hmmm, because life is for sure not always nice and light. As a matter of fact, those things that often prompt me to actually put things in words are the very things which I edit out of much of my posts. Very strange indeed -it's like even on cyberspace I want to present a better me - me without all the bitching and moaning (which I do believe I try to keep to a minimum). But I have truly digressed so far away from what I actually wanted to post this evening.

This is going to be a post about a spiritual moment I had tonight - religious if you will, although I believe religion is getting a bad name right now, especially congregated religion. I'm not entirely sure that some of the bad press concerning this isn't without warrant. People have, throughout the centuries, performed many heinous acts in the name of religion. But again I'm wandering so far away from the subject of my post.

In all the time I've been dating Mark (which is quite a long time - several years in fact) we've always walked the beach and he's been exceptional at finding "lucky stones". I know I will probably botch what exactly a lucky stone is, but I'm afraid to clarify with him at this point because it will once again prove that I'm not always paying complete attention to his stories. My explanation (again, probably very flawed) is that lucky stones are cheek bones from fish - I want to say walleye or perch - that wash upon the shore. They have a signature "L" groove in them, which I'm guessing stands for "lucky". So, on with my story. For the past 7 years or so, each time we go walking, or I even go walking by myself on the beach, I have never, never never found one. Not even close - never ever. Mark seems to find one at least every few trips to the beach. Now mind you, he's had an eye for these "lucky stones" since he was very small and I have only relatively recently been hunting them myself. Oh - I explain way too much - but anyway - tonight I walked down to the beach with the dog - all by myself, and I was talking to God and said, I'd really, really like to find a lucky stone tonight (now I've said this to Mark and to others and to myself before but it never has happened in all this time). I swear to God (no pun intended) that five seconds after I said that, I found the biggest lucky stone I've ever seen - right there on the beach, and right next to the picnic table I was going to sit down on. It was SO obvious - God said "You asked, and I was listening" -it was the neatest thing I've experienced in a long long time. I absolutely knew that this was no coincidence. It was an affirmation that God is here, that he's listening in the present, that it's just as easy to believe in all the good possibilities as it is to be bogged down by all the sins of the world. Maybe I just need to spend more time talking and listening and seeing what God has to show me and spend less time on pitying "poor me" for some of the things that life deals. Life isn't fair - we are to go through this life being the best that we can be and our true reward will be when we meet God face to face in heaven. The best thing we can be in this life is a good example of God's love and that will help us through the rough spots and help us to appreciate the good spots - and there are many many good spots - spots such as tonight where a small white "stone" with a grooved "L" helped me again to renew my faith in the One above . . . .