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>Ray wrote: > Why is it I can't believe what I can't believe - is it because it is true > and I just don't understand it or not true at all? I guess the religious > would say they have received the gift of grace to believe. or perhaps we > are > bound by the limits of our intelligence. Ray, one of my all-time favorite people in the world was a dear 83 year old woman named Eleanor. She had been a sociology professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and, even at 83, had a lively curiousity and awesome intelligence. Eleanor was a secular Jew and an Atheist. We used to occasionally discuss religion because so was so curious about my faith. She used to say the same thing you stated here, Ray. "I think there is something missing in me because I just can't seem to have faith in God." Or she would ponder one of the many beautiful flowers in her garden and say, "I can almost believe in God when I look at this flower." Eleanor was one of the most moral people I had ever known in my life. She was a mentor in all things environmental and could discuss politics to no end. When she casually asked me what I thought would happen to her when she died, I told her that she would rest with the God she had worshipped all of her life but never knew personally. When she died (in the middle of the garden she loved so well), I went to her house to console her sons. As we spoke, a humming bird came and hovered by the screen next to our conversation and didn't leave - it was as though it was trying to join in. That was when I knew that Eleanor was still very much with us and very happy. It doesn't make much difference what you believe on this earth - it does make a great deal of difference what you live. Faith brings consolation. I have found that people who struggle with faith often feel abandoned and alone. It doesn't mean that God is not with them. It just means that they don't know that God is there. -------------- God bless Mary Ann (CG Jamie 65/25) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn