PALS WITH THE BIG G: Day 1

For my first Lenten blog post, I suppose it'd be a good idea to start with who I believe God is and why my faith is so important to me.

I think many people see God as an outside entity who is unrelated to them and their daily life and seeks merely to control or impose his will on humanity without understanding who we are or what we want. He is far removed from human beings and though he promises to safeguard his faithful, we are disillusioned when tragedy continues to befall the righteous and those who question his methods and authority are met with punishment. This is certainly the impression I get from pop culture like films and video games; but it is not an impression I agree with.

For me, God is neither a foreign presence or spiteful giant; I believe that God is the whole of creation in and of itself. He exists in, through, and for all else that exists, and is present not only in the world that surrounds us, but also in all people themselves, regardless of their acknowledgment of it. I believe that God gave humanity free will in order for us to choose our own ways to live and nurture our relationship with him.

This relationship is the basis of faith and it has proven to be an invaluable resource for motivation in my life. It has given me direction and focus and has helped me learn to think of others as well as myself. My faith has also helped me to over come loss and hardship in my life and has always been a great coping mechanism. 

I really do think that I have more to say on this topic, and this post really hasn't been written as eloquently as I had envisioned, but I hope that it has given anyone reading this some insight into myself and beliefs. I will be delving more into this topic as Lent continues, and hopefully I will learn more about myself as well.