Cherry Picker

So lately I have been thinking about my faith. I have loads of faith and believe in God, and baby Jesus. Choosing how to express it or practice it is where I run into trouble; actually I shouldn’t use the word trouble more like confusion. I try to have a conversation as often as I can with the big man upstairs and I love reading scripture, but I don’t go to church. I have never felt like I needed to go to church, or church camp, or bible studies. I feel like me and God have our own guidelines for OUR relationship. Every person is different and I think God is just glad if someone is searching for a relationship with him, no matter how they choose to go about it.

Now the title of my blog today is "Cherry Picker" this is because I consider myself one. I have enjoyed learning about all kinds of religion, how other cultures worship and picking different aspects of each to combine into my own way of worship. The two I have enjoyed most, and have actually practiced are Buddhism and Native American religion.

In my opinion (MINE maybe not yours but in MINE) Buddhism isn’t actually a “religion” I think it’s more of a “way of life.” Native American religion is somewhat similar. Both have guidelines and certain rituals, but there is no specific “God” to worship.

Like with Buddhism, you are supposed to light a candle or incense and acknowledge Buddha before you start meditation but you don’t HAVE to worship him. You can worship whomever or whatever you want, which is basically just a different way of praying. Here is an excerpt from an article I read:

Freedom of Thought is Central to Buddhist Attitude

“The Buddha encouraged self-reliance and freedom of thought in his followers. Practitioners are motivated to overcome obstacles by virtue of their own intellect and hard work. Buddhists believe in letting man be responsible and accountable for his actions.”

According to Walpola Rahula, “This freedom is necessary because, according to the Buddha, man’s emancipation depends on his own realization of Truth.”

I liked this because so many people blame God for things that go wrong in their life, when really THAT’S JUST LIFE. There is suffering and things go wrong, no one person is responsible for it. Now there is nothing wrong with praying to God for help and guidance, I do that all the time, but thinking you can pray and God will just do it for you is ridiculous. God helps those who help themselves, and in practicing Buddhism you learn to rely on yourself more and to control your attitude and mindset. That way you can focus more on praising God for your blessings instead of focusing on the negative all the time.

With Native American religion, a lot of rituals and praise revolve around nature, which I ABSOLUTELY agree with. God gave us the Earth. He gave us the animals and the four elements. Those should all be respected and praised. You can find the answers to so many things if you just stop and look at the world around you. Certain animals can mean certain things. Certain weather patterns can mean certain things. Our lives just get so fast paced that we forget to stop and breathe and notice the things around us.

This is how I have chosen to live my life and worship. It’s not in a church, or bible study class. It’s in my home, or my car, or the park, or while walking my dog. People need to stop putting so many rules and limitations on religion and worship. If it feels right to YOU, that’s all that should matter.