{guest post} kate from "daffodil's"

When I started blogging back in 2009, it was for my family. I had moved to another state and wanted a way to share my new life with everyone back home. It never occurred to me that there was a community out there and friends to be made!

About a year ago I began blogging more earnestly and in that got to know my fellow bloggers. Ladies and gentlemen, the beautiful Kate was one of those bloggers. Through sweet comments and heartfelt emails, she and I quickly found a wonderful and honest friendship that includes a love of love, a love of photography, a love of cute babies (seriously, have you seen her boys?) and a love of God (oh, and she is constantly posting pictures of everything I miss about California - and trust me, it takes a special kind of person to make me miss California!).

Something that it was always amazingly easy to talk to Kate about was faith. When I began opening up more about my own journey on my other blog Happenstance & Wanderlust, she was always an incredible champion; always there with words of encouragement and ceaseless support. 

And so today, I am truly beyond thrilled to let you all in on what she has been so kind to share! Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart! And while I'm at it, thank you Kevin (Kate's husband) for all you've done and continue to do for our country!

Be sure to check out Daffodil's to get to know this awesome lady! 

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Celebrating our little miracles: our first picture as a family of 4

Here is the truth:


I don't like talking about religion. It makes me uncomfortable- like sweaty palms, pit in my stomach, please-don't-ask-me-a-question-I-don't-know-the-answer-to uncomfortable. But the other truth is, I love what Lauren has to say. I love her blog, I love this blog, I love the friendship that has evolved between us over email and I love that her request that I come here to post today did not make me uncomfortable, it actually made me really excited. So because I have never really written about my faith {in a public forum} before and because there is still that part of me that is scared to do it, this may come off as a bit rambling, but I am honored to give my insight a shot here, in this space.

Why Religion Matters to Me {it felt right to start with a title}

I am what you call a cradle Catholic. I grew up Catholic, I spent 3rd-12th grade in Catholic school, both my parents and everyone in my extended family is Catholic; my husband is Catholic and we have had both our boys baptised in the Catholic faith, But I actually don't know a lot about Catholicism. If you ask me to name the intrinsic differences between Catholicism and other Christan faiths, I could probably give you a general idea, but no specifics. If you ask me to name my favorite bible quote, I cannot give you the exact chapter or verse. If you want me to convert you, I will not be able to give you the particular reason while you should.

*****

BUT there are things I can tell you: Catholicism works for me. We are a military family and that means we move a lot. It means my hubby has deployed to Iraq {twice} and that means our 'home' church is not the one we are likely to end up in. However, what I like about my faith is that no matter where I go, the ritual of mass is the same. I know I can walk in any Catholic church and know the order of things, the responses and I can hear my {and my mom's} favorite part: free us from needless worry and anxiety. 

*****

When I was 22 and engaged, the thought of getting married, and saying the most personal words that I could ever say in front of 300 people was terrifying. I wanted to get married at the courthouse and then have a party. My finance (only 25 at the time) reminded me how important it was to share this moment with God, and that really, it was just between us 3. We were making the sacrament of marriage and we needed to recognize it front of God for it really to be solidified. 


Our marriage was a sort of leap of faith. We dated long distance and then found out 3 months into our {6 month long} engagement that he got the one assigment we begged God not to give us, which landed him back in Iraq shortly after our planned wedding. 

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Making our commitment to each other and to God

So, we had our church wedding. Six weeks later, he left. It was hard. Fifteen months later, he came home and we moved in together for the first time. A month later, I found out I was pregnant with our first baby. Two years and a month later, I found out I was pregnant with our second.

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If God had answered our prayers we wouldn't be the family we are today. If he had let me move down to Savannah without feeling that 'Catholic guilt' of moving for a boyfriend, we might not have realized just how much we wanted to be together. If he had granted our desire to move to an Army post together first, then we would have never been stationed in Winston, and met the wonderful friends we met there. I wouldn't have gotten pregnant wtih our sweet Cullen, and subsequently, our baby Bennett, and well, I would have never re-met the friend {sorority sister} who introduced me blogging.


If he didn't get that assignment that we prayed so hard for him not to get, we wouldn't have continued to grow as a couple, to understand at a very young age how much work a relationship is, and to learn to early on to not take a day for granted. 

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A few months ago, I came across Lauren's blog comment hoping from another. I told her that religion became another level of important when we had kids because we wanted 'to raise them in the way of forgiveness, humility and kindess'. That comment might be the most profond religious thing I have ever said. I believe everything about that quote encompasses what I believe about faith.

*****

We forgive eachother, and our children, for small mistakes which only help us grow as people.
We are humble in knowing that our plans were greatly outweighed by God's plans and, as it turns out, his were better anyways.
We try our best to be kind to eachother, therefore teaching our children how to be kind, and all at once realizing how kind God was to bring us together. 

******

why i love jesus - but love/hate religion

This guy says it pretty well.  

Don't confuse Jesus with "religion".

There is a huge difference. Most people don't take time to realize that. 

And that's what scares me.

Because misunderstanding is the root of most hatred. 

Be known by what you are for. Not what you are against. 


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That being said, let me just say that based on the way I initially heard this, I tend to feel he is using the word "religion" in the sense that the word is too often linked with only the politics of a religion, rather than the faith.


I do not believe he is saying he hates religion per se, but rather the misconstrued political faction of those who claim religion as their weapon of choice.

For me, religion is the faith, not the politics. But the word has become dangerously bastardized. And Christianity is not the only religion in the line of fire here. Look at how too many people view Islam or Judaism - completely wrong!

The popular view of religion is a group of radicals trying to use it as a sort of political movement rather than a belief system.

(I could easily point some fingers here to certain groups making headlines in the last few years, but there again is a problem of saying "I'm right, you're wrong" so I'll abstain)

But seriously... Am I the only one who thinks this is completely bonkers?


I do think this guy takes a little too much poetic license with some of the text he quotes (albeit with good intentions, I do believe that). Actually, in some ways it's a wonderful illustration of why there is so much dissension among Christians because, just like any things else in this big world, we all come at things with our own point of view, our own biases,  and our own interpretations.

A good friend of mine actually posted this great article which seems to tidy up the point in question here. Honestly, I like both of the points of view represented here. And I appreciate both very much. I will not say one is right, the other wrong. I will simply say that both sides make some sense to me.

I always think about a phrase I've heard many times over the years:

Hate the sin. Love the sinner.


Because let's face it folks - we're all a little screwed up and none of us are perfect.

Such is the beauty of the human condition.


And I don't think we need religion to tell us that. I also don't think we need religion to fix that, either.

For me though, I will say this: religion does help me fix the things in my life I want to change. It also helps me maintain the things I don't want to change. I happen to call The Great Whoever up there God. It's what works for me.

Will this work for everyone?

No.

Should it work for everyone?

Hell no.


Find what works for you! I can only beseech you here to do everything you do in LOVE.

Because that there is something that all religions have in common.

Politics on the other hand... Not so much.

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So like I said, please do not confuse Jesus with "religion" (by that I mean to say the popular politics too many associate with that word). I follow a Man whose message was LOVE and PEACE.

And I like that.

Unfortunately, I don't always like everyone who claims to do the same.

Which makes me think of another quote:

Dear God, please save me from your "followers".


Of course, I should probably work on that if what I feel called to do in this world in Love.

I guess that's my own hypocrisy. But you know what? I want to change that.

I'm going to change that.