Seeking...

We are all seekers.  We seek love, relationships, happiness, warmth, a home, a partner, a job, fulfillment, fame, money... the list is endless.  Whether we are actively seeking any of these things or not, there is a part in all of us that seeks them. 

Not all seek God.  Not all see the value in seeking for God.  In other ways of thought and belief, other beings are sought, or ideas.  Most people I know seek good things, and good deities, and good ideas.  Goodness.  There are certainly people in the world who are seeking to harm, seeking selfish gain, but I choose to believe that the majority of the 7.6 billion people on this planet seek good. 

I choose to believe God is Love above all else.  God's love protects and cherishes and gives grace upon grace upon grace.  It is never-ending, and has no limit.  Even the most unlovable among us are deeply, deeply God's beloved.  This is what I choose to believe.  And my heart has come to a place of not needing anyone else to believe what I believe.  I don't think of my life and faith as truer than any other. 

I said to my 10 year old today that many people, from many walks of life, and from many faiths, seek the same things we (as we call ourselves Christians) do.  People from other religions and philosophies and beliefs or no belief at all, seek goodness, and kindness, and faithfulness, and joy, and hope, and peace.  And love.  They seek to serve others.  They seek to help the poor.  They seek to bring light and happiness to those who are broken and down.  And they seek to love. 

For me, the conclusion has become obvious.  If we are all seeking love and light and goodness, then we are all seeking the same thing.  I could call that God.  For me, it is God.  For someone else, it is Allah.  For someone else, it is enlightenment.  For someone else, it is simply the right way to live, and no belief in a deity is necessary.  And this gives me such joy, to know I am connected in ways I can't imagine to humans around this amazing world.  I am convinced that we do not need to believe in all the same exact things, in order to find God.  And we don't even have to call the thing we find, God.  I think this means God is so much bigger and unfathomable and more loving than I ever knew. 

This is what gives my faith meaning at this point in my life.  This is what makes me in awe of the God I choose to believe in.  It's not about having exactly the right beliefs and theology.  It's about seeking Love.  And joining with all the other beautiful and amazing humans on this tiny planet we call home, as we all seek love together, in our own ways.