It took me a long time to form an opinion on religion. Growing up, we were never a family that went to church every Sunday. That’s not to say that we weren’t a spiritual family, I just didn’t practice often enough to have a full understanding of religion at a young age. Once I got to middle school my family and I started attending Crossroads Methodist church, and I formed a connection with God.
I attended masses with my dad and our family on his weekends, and I listened attentively. I knew I believed, but I didn’t know what I was believing in, nor had I created a full opinion on what my religion meant. All I knew was I loved going to church, and I loved the way it made me feel. However, it was a feeling I only carried with myself on Sundays. I tried to teach myself to pray, to communicate with this God of mine, but I felt like I was doing it wrong. Were my eyes to be open or closed? Could I pray while I was laying down or did I need to kneel? Was I supposed to say it aloud, or could I speak to God in my mind? I didn’t feel the same way I did when I was in my sacred space, but as I grew up, I learned, I found my ways of prayer, and I learned what religion meant for me.
What I learned was it didn’t matter, I could scream my prayers or sit silently as I communicated with God. I could find God in everything, the grass, the sky, music, art, colors, the warmth of the sun; the whole world became the feeling I got when I stepped into my church. I found an understanding of religion that was specific to me, but could be seen in everything surrounding me as well. I’m sharing this because the message I received at church this week has stuck with me, and I want to share it with those around me. We do series at my church, where each week is a building block to create the whole picture the series is portraying. This series is called ‘God is ___’. This week the blank was filled with multilingual. The message closed saying ‘God is love in every language’. This helped put my thoughts about religion into tangible words.
God is love in every language. God loves you the same way that God loves me. Religion for every person is so different, and that’s what makes it beautiful. The beauty is in our differences, our different languages, the different ways we feel God. God is love in every language. God is God is God is God, the same way love is love is love is love. God is love. The way I pray may be different from how you pray, but there’s nothing wrong with that. No two people think the same way, no two people experience life the same way, so why should religion be any different? We find the ways to communicate with God that speak to us most and we practice them. We ask questions, we join prayer groups, we rejoice in song, we read the sacred books, we worship every Sunday, or we don’t. Each person finds their own path to celebrating religion, it’s a unique journey for every individual, and it doesn’t happen overnight. However you feel about religion, wherever you stand in your journey, is perfect.
Religion can be confusing, and can leave you more lost than enlightened at times. However, when you abandon the standards and find what religion means for you, you can follow your path and find your experience. Find what speaks to you; meditation, song, prayer, acts of service, or whatever it may be, and follow it. Don’t doubt where you stand in your journey, trust your God. Find your language and speak it loud for the whole world to hear, or speak it silently to your God, or somewhere in between. Speak your love, speak your God, because God is love in every language.
