this i believe...

npr has been doing snippets every Monday about faith, entitled 'this i believe.' i heard a bit of it today, and even though it was a belief much different than mine, i appreciated it.

what do i believe?

i believe... in faith. faith has never not been a part of my life. certainly, i've been "born again" at a specific time/date/place... but for me faith has always been ever more than that. it's ingrained into my earliest memories, my deepest desires, everything of whom i believe myself to be. i believe in a faith that's more than a bumper sticker or a list of dos and don'ts. i believe in a faith that's about more than politics, and intrinsically, i am leery of when they're mixed together. not because people aren't sincere, but because most politicians only care about a vote. i believe faith is action... that faith and social justice should not be separated. i believe that by helping the body that the soul is helped as well, and that when one helps the body, the body who is in need will then be open to the faith. i believe that faith can be difficult and gut-wrenching and beautiful and simple and honest.

i believe... in love, and i believe that love is a choice. at our best, every human being will still screw up, and i must choose to love them any way. my family members, my spouse, my friends... and even more difficultly, myself.

i believe... in doing whatever one can to relieve suffering in others. it's easy to see suffering everywhere one looks - in those with money, in those without; in those who seem to have everything, in those who seem to have nothing. suffering takes on many forms and too often i ignore suffering, but on my best days, i think that i can do something to take some of someone's suffering away. sometimes i can offer relief in big ways; sometimes it is by barely doing anything.

i believe that it takes a long time to get to who you want to become. and that's okay.

i believe in truth, and i believe that there is absolute truth, despite my tendency to be really gray.

i believe in friendship. i believe in grace. i believe in beauty. i believe in art. i believe in childhood, and i think that every human should have a good one. i believe in adoption.
more later... :)