DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

    I am spending a few days in Texas with one of my very best friends of 25+ years. We are very different in many ways yet we both have a deep belief in friendship and a deep belief in God. These small yet big connections seem to keep us coming back for more even though we live many miles away from each other. Yesterday I attended a southern Baptist church with her and learned something that was very heartening and very uplifting to me. I grew up in southern Indiana and a couple of my friends were southern Baptist. I seldom went to church with them because I was raised Catholic and I did not feel comfortable in their church. Mainly because the preacher was often spitting fire and brimstone and condemning the congregation to hell if we didn't live the straight and narrow life, but sometimes it was because I would hear disparaging words about Catholics that made me feel bad about myself and my religion. Now my days as a Catholic are long gone and my church of choice is Unity because I am more comfortable with a God who is loving and positive as well as for many other reasons I won't go into here. And I usually shy away from denominational churches because I consider myself more spiritual than religious and have thrown off the yoke of the rules and dogmas of my past. But yesterday I was pleasantly surprised as I listened to the minister teach at this particular Baptist church, deep in the heart of Texas. He spoke of a need to let go of "religion" and focus on being spiritual. His whole message was about working on a relationship with Jesus, inside and from the heart, more than following the rules and dogmas of an institution. I agreed with everything he said, and was surprised that his message was both uplifting and positive, just the way I like ministers to teach. I am glad to see that people, even in Texas who I often wrongly stereotype as fire, brimstone and negative, are listening more to their hearts and their connections to God and less to the negative and divisive messages of the religions of my past. I love it when God surprises me and yesterday Source gave me a wonderful gift, the gift of acknowledgement that we're all more alike in this world than different. Thank you Creator!