I do not claim to be an expert of any kind.

I know I’ve said this a couple times now, but I think this is the place where it’s really going to matter most. So, in the spirit of saying things that I want to be heard in… The things that I know, I know because I learned the hard way, and walked barefoot on rocky roads where the lessons lived. Because for me, the understanding of my truth had to be hammered in. It was not found easily, and it couldn’t have been. So when I say I know, I really do know. I know in my bones and in my heart and in all the in-between spaces. I know for myself. I cannot know for you. We all must walk barefoot to find what we know, and know it to be true for ourselves.

I know, for myself, that the Marys are a big deal. I know that my whole body feels calmer in a day when I’ve said the rosary. I know that if I call myself Catholic, then I also must tell you that I’m not a good one. I don’t think all of the things that any of the groups of people think. I think some of all though, and I feel okay about that. I expect that what I know today will evolve, as it all has over and over. So, feel free to quote me on nothing - I am a real piece of work.

If you disagree with what I know, that’s okay. Again, I know for myself. I don’t know anything for you. How could I?

Except, I guess, I know for you...
that you’ll find so much freedom in knowing your own truth, in merging and editing all the ideas whirling around you -
in taking the pieces that work for you to create peace in your pieces. Because there is only one religion that has truly worked for me, and it is made up by me for me and my happy little soul, and it seems a lot like a little of everything. And the point is peace. And it is filled with love. And that is all that matters.

Knowing what I know about a God of love and peace, a creator who made every one of us individually with care and intention
to be different, perfectly unique for our own story, our own purpose makes me quite positive that we can’t have been made to all think the same thing. We can’t have been made uniquely to hear it all the same way. If the goal is a path to peace, and I believe it is, it should be looked upon as a gift that we have been given so many ways to get there. It can’t possibly be as important as the humans think for us all to think the same thing, or even just one of the ideas in its entirety.

We take these stories written and told and adopted into our own self discovery that are actually not our own at all. Created without much room for independent thought or growth or self actualizing, and made for agreement and hopeful obedience. Suggestive selling points, that somehow, we allow to become our most intimate thoughts and beliefs, as if the truest pieces of our hearts are as insignificant as an appetizer on a menu. 

Would you like to start with the crab cake? We make it in-house with 5 oz of jumbo lump crab, served with a cabbage & carrot slaw, with sriracha aioli and sesame oil to finish. Oh, I almost forgot. That’s all served in a bowl full of what we think you should eat forever. You’re not allergic to sesame, are you? Or shame? Or guilt? Or judgment? Oh, you’re allergic to judgment. That’s a tough one to take out.

When you find yourself quiet enough to listen, what you believe will come to sit in your lap. I know that my God is a loving God. My God is that all the time. I know that there is not a gigantic finger pointing at us from the sky. Guilt, shame, and sin did not come from the place where I get my peace. There is only love, and whatever you call yours, I hope you feel it deep and get to know it for yourself from that sacred space within your soul.