Faith in the Cracks – Allowing God to seep into the cracks in our lives.

There, I said it. This machismo bull about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps doesn’t work. It actually has never worked. For one thing, we always stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. No single person has ever done EVERYTHING themselves. There is always someone who has paved a path, given encouragement, had a couch to sleep on or a shoulder to cry on. And we need to let go of this as an ideal.

You would think we would have learned from the pandemic and the loneliness that become its own epidemic in the midst of things. People have more mental health issues and health issues in general when they are lonely. We are all created to be in community. We need people, whether we think we do or not.

I have my times where it is hard to let people in to the emotional ongoings in my life, but when I do let people in, it is better for me to have their help. It is better for my soul. It is better for my mental health. It is better for my physical health.

So we need to let go of the individualism. Things are not all about me. Things are not all about my thinking and my beliefs. That is in part why we have seen the increase in mass shootings. People are lonely and isolated. They get in their own heads that people are out to get them for whatever reason. They go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theory and echo chamber thinking. They get wrapped so tightly in their bubble that they cannot even fathom a different point of view.

Rights are to be for the common good. My rights should not impact your rights. My right to my religion means the government cannot forbid me to practice it, but it also does not mean I get to inflict it upon others.