Porthole

Origins and beliefs

SusanFarmer wrote a very lovely entry on 'origins' in "To my younger self in the photograph" .

I responded: "Very moving and lovely (and well written ).

I have my father's smile, my mother's love of numbers, a news junkie like both. But I wasn't like them in so many ways.

Years later... I realized I was more like my grandparents. And now... thinking of how I 'ran away' from New York to Kansas I wonder whether I was retracing my father's journey from Oklahoma to New Jersey or his parent's trek from Maryland and NY/PA to Oklahoma via West Virginia and Ohio. No way for me to know. I don't remember if they ever shared 'why'.

I ask now... Have I ever found my place?"

For:"Space Blog" 

"God Loves You"  by 🌻 pwheeler ~ love joy peace

Mini-review: I'm not the best at writing nor critiquing ghazals. The form comes from verb final languages and does not work well with English. That said, this does fine. The rhyme scheme and repetitions work well. Only one tortured choice of words, "even a slew", which can be corrected by "begin anew". It's didactic and inspirational. I give it a 4.2, potential 4.5.

Prompt: What about you? Do you believe God loves you? Do you even believe in God? Tell us about your spiritual beliefs.

O SON OF BEING! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.

— Bahá’u’lláh (in Hidden Words 1:5)

I struggle with this because I was raised among Lutherans who felt belief was enough without action and Catholics who acted without belief. Both acted 'properly' in a ritual by-the-book way. Very closed minded people. Hard to believe God loves you when "God-loving" people are so hateful.

I rejected the Christian notion that Salvation was the raison-d'etre of my existence and all the rituals and angst surrounding it. I believe that I come from God and to God will I return. Battered and bruised but maybe wiser and more empathetic.

Bahá’u’lláh also advises: "Let deeds, not words, be your adorning." Which I find interesting as for decades I really 'did' things for my community and circle of friends. But I began to use words in 1999 and became a wordsmith by 2005. Now I fashion with words. Deeds? Not so many. I've become reclusive except when I travel and some deeds take energy I no longer have.

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