Today some thoughts “wrote” themselves in my head and so I have decided to share them here.

I don’t know about tomorrow or the next day, but today I am here.

There are many reasons that I stopped writing. Some I understand. Some have not been fully articulated to my understanding yet. Perhaps it will all make sense some day.

This is my story for today:

A lifetime ago I was a member of a church.  It was one of the best times of my life.  We were small in number, but large in spirit.  We were a diverse group united by a shared belief.  I doubt that “shared” belief was really the same for all of us, but it was enough. We didn’t always all get along of course, but we maintained a functioning unity.

We were human. We screwed up and hurt each others’ feelings. We made mistakes. We said the wrong things sometimes. We didn’t always agree about stuff…sometimes big stuff. We tried.

We were a motley assortment.  Most of us were there because we couldn’t find any other church where we fit.  We had been hurt by the world and just wanted someplace to worship, to feel comfortable, to feel safe being who we were…where we were on our journey.

When changes beyond our control came into our church, it closed. We moved on in our lives. Some of us stayed close to each other.  The relationships that came out of that church were strong.

Somehow, the labels didn’t matter.  Conservative, liberal, gay, straight, other… anti-this, pro-that…

We formed our relationship based on our commonalities and let the differences be.

I miss that.

That group made it easier being “me” in this world.

I grew as a person in that church…and it allowed me to grow even more since.

In some ways, I’ve been afraid to write my thoughts here in today’s current state of being.

I’m tired of being afraid.

This is my space.

I’m going to write and continue to share my journey…

Our common journey  – if you care to join me.

We can focus on what we have in common and let the rest go.