Larry Elder stunned libertarians a few years ago. After being one of the most prominent libertarians in the United States, he announced he was changing parties and registering as a Republican. His logic was that the Libertarian party was going nowhere and had no real ambition.
Why am I bringing this up? Because he said something in his column about it that really reached me. He said “Sometimes you have to join the team you’re on.”
When Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed, I started praying. It just seemed the natural thing to do. I prayed harder than I’ve prayed in recent memory. I continued to pray. I prayed for her family, her soul, and everything else. I prayed that someone in Florida would use their head as something other than a hat rack and stop the barbaric starving of that woman.
When Terri died, a piece of me died with her. I cried. Then I prayed.
Then a few days later, the Pope died. A man who represented a faith I felt totally disconnected from except for my belief in God was dead, and I was weeping as if it meant something to me. Little did I realize, it did. I hadn’t been into a church for anything other than two weddings in twelve years and for all my belief in God and Jesus Christ, I had not been going to mass at all. I repeatedly joked that if I walked into a church, it would cave in on my head.
The day after the Pope died, I was in church, and I’ve been going ever since. I’ve been to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral a few times in the past couple of weeks. Why? Because for all the times I had been there, I had never been there as a Catholic, just as a tourist.
I could go on and on, but I think it’s starting to take shape for you now.
I’ve reconnected with my faith in a new and profound way. In some ways, I’m born again. I have a prayer schedule, I read the bible, I pray for people regularly, and so on. I’ve lit candles for folks at church. I think twice about doing something now. I’m making an effort because it means something to me. It always did, apparently, but now it means more than it ever has for me.
I was discussing this with a friend, and I said to him that I thought as I got older I would move further from religion, and instead, I’m moving closer to it. He nodded, explained that the samet hing had happened to him and then told me a story that involved him dealing with his own mortality as being an awakening.
I’m not dying, but I realize now that my soul was on life support. I feel like I’ve resuscitated it for now, and hopefully forever. The day I went back to church for the first time in twelve years, I feel like I rejoined the team I was already on.
It’s a decision I’ve not regretted since.