arbitrary ruminations

i was raised with big big religion. i had a cup-o-jesus morning noon and night in my house. we went to sunday school, church sunday morning, sunday night and wednesday night. we had vacation bible school, church camp and bible studies in our house. we had church lock-ins (first time i saw aliens...shhhh) homecomings, dinner on the ground, my momma was the minister of music and her best friend was the preacher's wife. my step dad was the sound man; recorded all the sermons and we listened to them in the car and at home. we did not listen to music because of the backtracking messages rock music fed our weak minds ...and well you get the picture...

fritz (the father of my children) and i decided to give our kids some choices; show them other view points and let them decide for themselves what feels right to follow or not to follow!

each year we incorporated some details into our own adopted christmas festivities from various belief systems (solsitice, kwanzaa, hanukkah, etc...) we tried to be as open and honest about what we learned and how people viewed these days.

it occurred to me one night while driving around looking at christmas lights with the girls that i had skewed the view and hidden details about the religion i was brought up in from my children. i was being close minded from the other side. chelsea asked me, "mom, why do all these people have that little family in their front yard??" (cue away in a manger playing softly in the background while the night is lit with a northern star) so i thought, 'ok now, you must explain with as much honesty and forthcoming as you have about all the other belief systems...they get to make a choice!'

do you know how to explain to a 8 year old that the sweet little baby jesus was born to a woman who had never had sex and was not married, was not allowed to stay in the hotels because of this and was forced to sleep in a barn, was raised by a man who was not his father, was killed by a mob of angry people and came back to life a couple of days later?

i don't either, so i did the best i could. she looked at me wide eyed and puzzled and i left it in my mother's hands to further their education on this subject.

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We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
-Anais Nin

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