I have an old high school friend who left a job as an investment banker to become a pastor. Yeah, I know, what a transition! And one that I didn't see coming! This guy is one of the nicest human beings I have had the pleasure to know but I had no inkling that he was a religious Christian. I was flummoxed when he told me that he was going to divinity school. Did not see this coming. Of course! People that have been touched by a divine spirit don't feel the need to tell everyone about it.
We have stayed in touch over the years in a peripheral way, inconsistently and with long periods of silence. I am only now beginning to understand the meaning of some of these relationships, slow learner that I am. Distance and infrequency in contact with someone doesn't mean the relationship is unimportant or has lapsed but rather that life and time has intervened to interrupt the flow of the love. I am blessed with many, many friends who have made my life unimaginably rich and full. It's easy for me to focus on those that have lasted the longest and with whom I'm in frequent contact. A different old friend States unequivocally that I'm one of his best friends even though I haven't seen him in 30 years. My consciousness was jolted aware when he said this. Of course! Why was I unable to see this?
Not long ago I thought of my banker-cum-pastor and felt a wave of good feeling suffuse my day. I sent him a text to this effect. "Seaweed, that's what we pastors call the presence of the Holy Spirit," he replied. Of course! There it was! A connection between my snide intellectual musing on God and a Higher Power segueing nicely with an established monotheistic faith.
It's all the same. Spirituality is all the same. Reminds me again of the Chicago guy who explained that my flailing attempts to understand spiritual principles could be boiled down to this: "Just don't be an asshole today." That made sense. I know when I'm acting like an asshole. Just stop doing that and you've made a good start on a spiritual life.
No comments:
Post a Comment