imperfect prose on thursdays: I Believe . . .

(My husband found this among his dad's writings, and I had the honor of reading it at his funeral. Byron was a physicist and professor of real estate and finance. I never knew much about his personal beliefs, but I'm happy to know he talked with God.)

I BELIEVE . . . 

I don’t know much, but I do believe God made heaven and earth, including you and me, and the rocks and mountains and oceans, and plants and animals and our Earth, Sun and Solar System, and the one hundred billion suns in the Milky Way galaxy and the one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe, and the known and unknown elements and forces  including electro-magnetism, strong and weak forces, gravity and something called  “Dark Energy” that is forcing the universe to continue to expand in violation  of Einstein’s “Law of Relativity”, and the very strange Quantum World of energy bundles  we call Electrons , Up Quarks and Down Quarks (protons and neutrons),  Gluons , and  Matter and Anti-Matter.

It is extremely important to believe in something. 

Man is God’s only creature that intentionally destroys his environment with the intent of doing less, and making life easier by indulging in excess consumption and glorifying in personal power. People of faith respect God’s work and take s care of themselves and their environment.

Prayer is fundamental!  Talking with God is the most important thing a person can do.   It is a direct communication without the noise and influences of other people.
I ask God for guidance and help with those things beyond my control and promise to do my best to solve the problems I can control.   
I believe someday I will be Reborn into an afterlife called Heaven . . . or just maybe it’s another Universe of God right under our noses . . . and will be with my one and only lovely Lisa! (his wife who died 24 years ago)  

That’s what I believe, and why I talk with God.  

linking up with imperfect prose on thursdays

Believe

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

the third day he rose from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

I like The Apostles' Creed. It's a comforting summing up of beliefs. It's like a check list, and I love check lists. But what I'm finding the older I get, the more I rest in the Word, the more I open myself to others, is that this Christian life can't be culled down to a simple list. 

There's a reason God gave us more than the Ten Commandments. It's the same reason He gave us free will. He wants us to love Him, worship Him, emulate Him because we want to, not because we have to. 

As a child and on into my early adult years, I just wanted that check list so that I could be sure I was doing it all right. Just follow the list, keep everyone (especially God) happy, and you win the prize -- heaven. Fail at any of it, and you get the eternal life sentence -- hell.

As a child I was taught the 5 steps to salvation: hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized. I still see the value in all of those steps, but believe means so much more to me than it used to. Believing is all about trusting, having faith in, loving. Without the belief that God loves me and wants me to love Him, the rest feels forced.

So I believe in the teachings of The Apostles' Creed, but mostly I believe that God loves me and I love Him. And that is enough.

linking up with imperfect prose on thursday