Wonder What That Means's Blog

Life

wonderwhatthatmeans — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:03:17 +0000

This is not forever. This moment is ever changing, this lifetime ever evolving. You are not who you were a year ago, less a week ago. New experiences, new people, new ideas. This is you. In progress. Somedays you think that it will never be possible – this you that you look ahead to. But I am told to become what is, is to let go of what was. Step out. Step into the sunshine and start walking.

UU – defining where I am

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sun, 16 May 2010 04:01:22 +0000

I use this space as a journal so if I ever need to remind myself how or what I was thinking I can stop here. So here is my definition of my faith right now.

Unitarian Universalism, what does that mean to me? If someone asks I would say, to me it means the belief in the unity of God and the salvation of all souls. Follow up with the question, so you don’t believe in Jesus Christ? I would say, I don’t believe in the divinity of the trinity. But I learn so much from the teachings of Jesus that I celebrate his life. What about the Bible? I see the Bible as a book to draw inspiration from, but not to interpret literally, or to consider God-written. God wrote creation, the world, the universe—that is God’s true word. How can you say that? Because that is what makes sense to me. To reason that God’s word, which is the creation, is available to everyone equally. It is not a “book” that one must read and accept as truth to be “saved”. How about Heaven and Hell? I pay very little thought to the afterlife, because to enjoy life now is to be present in the moment. What I believe is summed up best by author Forrest Church, “I do believe I came from God and that I shall return to God.” For me being Unitarian Universalist means discovering the many ways to grow my faith without having to accept things with which I disagree.

A Chosen Faith: Unitarian Universalism

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:35:51 +0000

So I am two weeks in to a membership class at my new UU church, notice how I said MY. I really feel good about my choice to find this new faith path and this church seems to fit so nicely. The class is a brief history lesson on Unitarian Universalism, which is interesting since I had never heard of it until I started my search. The book we are reading is A Chosen Faith by John Buehrens and Forrest Church. It is great, and I had it ordered before I even knew it was going to be the “required” reading for the class.
I also had ordered The Cathedral of the World and LifeCraft, both by Forrest Church. Because I think that man is brilliant. The two lines I highlighted from the Cathedral of the World book sum up so nicely where I am right now in my journey of faith, they are: “God is what sustains me. God is that which is greater than all and yet present in each.
And then the line,” I do believe that I came from God and that I shall return to God.
Ok, one more, because it is that good, “Want what you have; do what you can, be who you are.”

I have ordered a few more books, this time geared toward the kids, I will let you know how they are when I get them. But for now, I am enjoying my research and discovering the many ways we can grow our faith without having to accept things which we do not agree with. For me, that is Unitarian Universalism.

Some Prayers

wonderwhatthatmeans — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:33:19 +0000

When I googled UU prayers, I didn’t find anything that was as simple as I wanted for a table prayer. So I figured, I used to write a lot of poems, and in a way that is what a prayer is. Here’s what I have thought of so far. I think the first one would be a good table prayer for the kids!

- – - – - – - -

Thank you God for the food we share and the time we are together here. Amen

- – - – - – - -

Dear God, help me strive for compassion, understanding, reason, and justice for all of the world. Amen

- – - – - – - -

Dear God, What I do not know, I trust in you. The joy is the journey yet to unfold. Thank you for the open road. Amen

- – - – - – - -

Give me strength to trust
the path I am upon.
My spirit is your spirit
the wind among the trees.
It’s enough to see the world
you are enough for me.

- – - – - – - -

Thank you for the food we eat and
the shoes upon our feet.
Help us to be kind and good
and be the people we know we should.

- – - – - – - -

Spirit of Life, You give me hope in a better tomorrow. No painter can paint the sun. No poet can describe the sky. It’s only you and on you I rely. Amen

Catching up

wonderwhatthatmeans — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:10:14 +0000

In my journey of discovering where I belong in the church world, I have found an amazing church right here where I live, it is a UUA church. http://www.uua.org/
I have attended two weeks and took the whole family with me today. Everyone else seemed to like it as well.
The sermon today was about Easter, the resurrection of Jesus; and how whether or not you are a Christian you can find meaning in the story of rebirth, renewal and learn much from the amazing teacher that Jesus was. How open minded to speak this way. I felt great when I walked out the door today, and I am reminded that no mater what happens around me – how I internalize it is what matters. No one chooses your beliefs for you… the journey of faith is yours. Between you and God.
Then I had Easter dinner with my folks, and I was reminded again, how hard it is to be different, think different and find your own way in a world very narrow minded.
That being said, I love my dad anyway

You may be a Deist and don’t know it yet

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:43:22 +0000

You may be a Deist and don’t know it yet

Posted using ShareThis

The Journey

wonderwhatthatmeans — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:59:49 +0000

My inspiration for this post is THIS. And his words: Faith, then, is a river flowing wherever the earth allows. – Doug Tozier.

Because the more I continue to explore my faith, the more I feel completely at ease. It’s just as if it all makes so much sense. The world, my place in it, and my own interpretation of it all. I feel so much more free. I no longer say I believe in something the church teaches because I feel I need to “prove” my faith, I simply say, I am a Deist. I believe in God. Period.

It’s kind of like I want to tell the world.

Although, I hesitate because the majority of my family (mom and dad) are Christians and will think “I have lost my way” rather than discovered what I always knew. But there comes a point, when it really doesn’t matter what happens on the outside – I mean, as to what people think. I feel that my faith is a river flowing – wherever the earth allows.

I love this journey.

In God We Trust

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:31:54 +0000

So when I read this at CNN I think… why don’t we know about this stuff? And how can the Government get away that?

I have read some bloggers opinions on it… people then turned to the “In God we Trust” line on the dollar. And I just want to mention… it’s God. All inclusive God – not Christian God. So I hope that we can remember not every reference to God is in the name of the “Bible God”. Just a thought

So I talked to the kids…

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:29:00 +0000

I finally received the books I mentioned earlier – and I can not say enough good things about “What is God”. My 4 year old daughter and I read it. She liked it. Then I read it with my Fourth grade twin boys. It lead to an interesting, and I will admit, scary discussion. I have been raised Christian, attending a Lutheran church, and my kids have been following in my footsteps. When we read this book – I want to approach the subject of “think about it”. I think Fourth graders are old enough to think for themselves, and this book was a perfect way to open the line of communication.
“What are we?” My son asked, after hearing religions talked about in the book.
I said, “Well, we have attended a Christian church, but you can be whatever you want to be.”
I continued, “Mommy has been looking at a new church, which is a Unitarian Universalist church. But I decided I am a Deist”
“What’s that?” they asked.
“Well, it is a person who believes in God because you can reason there is a God. Not because some man wrote it in a book,” I said.
One of my sons said, “What if a woman wrote it in a book?”
The other one said, “I still want to be a Christian.”
I just shrugged and said, “I just want you to have an open mind and know that although the Christian religion teaches the Bible is the Holy book, other religions teach about other Holy books. So who’s to say, which Holy book is Holy.”
“I believe in God,” one son said, “and I don’t not think Jesus is God because his mom was Mary and his dad was Joseph.”
“I just like to say my prayer,” my other son said.
“Well,” I said, “You can believe what you want to believe – but I want you to know what I think.”
They were all happy with that. We talked a bit more, but I felt good about saying to the kids – here is what I think and now do what you will. When we switch churches, which is a matter of time, I think they will have open minds. And that is exactly the kind of children I want to raise. People who can think for themselves and reason that just because “someone” said so doesn’t make it “truth”.

Still discovering the joys of Deism

wonderwhatthatmeans — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:56:15 +0000

I have been slow to blog, not because I have not continued researching, but have a lot of regular life happening! New business venture for me – totally unrelated… but I’m happy!

Anyway, I love this guy, Doug Tozier, or at least this post he wrote!

And I got this book on Deism by Bob Johnson. I agreed with so many things he said.

Both those finds are thanks to my sister! It’s fun to have another person who is also just discovering the Deism.

Also I have ordered
What Is God?
by Etan Boritzer, Robbie Marantz

and Meet Jesus: The Life and Lessons of a Beloved Teacher
by Lynn Tuttle Gunney, Jane Conteh-Morgan

and The Age Of Reason
by Thomas Paine

STILL WAITING on slow, slow AMAZON free shipping.

I have already recieved – A Child’s Book of Blessings and Prayers by
Eliza Blanchard, Rocco Baviera, which I found through the Unitarian Universalist website.
My daughter (age 4) and I read it together last night. I love the ideas of prayers so free and although I didn’t find one that I want to repeat everyday at supper, it’s a great book to remind our children that you can pray to God how ever you like. She made up her own prayer, “Here is my plate. Here is my food. Eat it up and thank God.”