what we DO know
I love talking to Paige. If you have never had a real conversation with Paige Hustead, you have not lived. She is full of grace and wisdom and love, and she consistently reminds me of who of I am and what I stand for.
We had a conversation tonight about faith and life. Both of us are in this place of questioning and pondering. We both love God and want to serve God, but we admittedly do not know who God is or what God wants or how we are to live in response to God.
Here are some conclusions we drew this evening:
Even amidst our doubt and confusion, we know there is God. What we know of God is that God asks us to love. We know from our spiritual texts that followers of God are called to love and give and share and care for others. It seems that we could spend our whole lives trying to do these things that we DO know, and yet we still may never fully achieve their demands. But maybe all God is asking of us is that we do what we know we must do. Maybe God doesn’t require that we try to figure everything else out just yet. Maybe we don’t need the answers to our doctrinal debates in order to live like we should. Maybe God is pleased simply by our honest pursuit of what we know God wants of us. Maybe the rest of our questions will be answered in doing these things, and still, maybe they won’t. But it seems that if we could spend our whole lives just trying to love and share and give and care, then it would be a useless waste of time to fight over the things we do not know. Maybe God is actually displeased when we focus so much on what we do not know that we become distracted from pursuing the attributes and actions that we do know.
I would be arrogant and self-righteous to state these conclusions without acknowledging that my life does present its share of controversial choices. There are many Christians who would point at my life and say that I am not living according to what THEY do know about what God wants. I hear those protests and I wrestle with their argument daily. But, I also admit with all sincerity that I DO NOT know what they know. God has never shown me what they know. So I am honestly seeking. But I am choosing not to let my questions or the questions of others interfere with my understanding of what I am to do. I am to love and to give and to share and to care for others. I must “Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God,” as my open arms remind me.
So, those are some thoughts. Do with them what you will. Let me know what you’re thinking about. “We’re all in this together,” as the cast of the HSM reminds us.
