***The best point of view that I can give of a Christian is the point of view of my own.***
From birth, I have always been heavily involved in church. It has become a part of my life that holds a special place. Now that I am in college it is slightly harder for me to practice my religion. Though many of my friends here on campus are Christian some of them believe in other religions or simply do not believe. Despite the fact that this may seem trivial this has had a huge impact on me.
For instance, I experienced a strenuous summer program here on campus and fondly remember feeling that there was some void within me. Like something was missing from my life. I didn’t really have a church to go to around in the area. However, every Sunday I would listen to gospel and take time t
o reflex. One Sunday I was not allotted the time to listen to my weekly gospel and reflection time. I fondly remember that for the rest of that week the void felt deeper than usual. I quickly realized that this void was caused by my lack of gospel and reflection time. From that moment, I realized that I heavily depended on my religion. I knew that I was comfortable enough in my faith that I was able to express to my directors that this gospel and reflection time was a necessity for me and they were very understanding. Feeling this feeling of disconnect with my religion I could only imagine how it feels for others to feel like their religion is being suppressed.
As a Christian, we are taught that we must treat everyone kind and never deny God. However, in today’s society I find that sometimes this can be a very difficult task. In most public school systems, it is very difficult to practice your religion due to the fear of offending others. In addition, in today it seems that more and more people are becoming less friendly. As a Christian, these two factors tend to be two of the major conflicts of our religion.
The last service that I attended in fact spoke on this very issue. It was shared with the congregation that one of the children asked “how do I supposed to share the love of God if we cannot every say his name in school?” This statement from this little girl was a powerful one. In fact it provoked a minor discussion which lead to the children being asked “how are they able to share God’s love without saying his name?” Though it may not be easy, Christians and many others forms of religions are tasked to answer this question on a daily. Thus I think it is important to remember that there is no such thing a perfect Christian therefore be conscious of how you judge a Christian and their actions they could be battling with things that you can’t see. In addition, as Christians we do believe that God has a hand in everything therefore don’t be alarmed when we seem to not worry.
Hey!
Great post.
I truly loved reading your blog; it was personal, reflexive, and engaging.
I too practice Christianity, but have never been one to practice the religion thoroughly, at least in recent years, so I understand how at times it is difficult to engage with your faith. I feel as though as we get older it is harder to devote the necessary time to our faith because our lives are plagued with so many other responsibilities and engagements. I too agree that expressing our faith puts us at ease and gives us a sense of comfort, even during the hardest of times; it calms us and allows us to go through our days confident in ourselves. During times of great stress and fear I do find myself turning to God for a little extra support and guidance, but I’ll be the first to admit I don’t look to him enough.
I am glad that you have found a way to regain and strengthen your faith while you are here at school. It is so important in this day and age to have a way to take time for yourself, step back, and breathe.
You also made a great point about how people may look down upon religions if they do not practice nor fully understand them. But as you said, what we need to do is respect and be kind to each other and let those around us practice as they wish and then they will hopefully do the same for us.
Great job!