May the good Lord shine a light on you,
Make every song (you sing) your favorite tune. May the good Lord shine a light on you, Warm like the evening sun. –the Rolling Stones
I tend to find inspiration everywhere: Natural Awakenings’ articles, Facebook, church,
even on Howard Stern’s radio show. So I wasn’t too surprised when I found inspiration this morning driving to work while listening to Stern. He came out of a commercial playing a live rendition of the Rolling Stones song “Shine a Light.” While the song played in the background, I listened to the lyrics and they made me think … I thought about faith, spirituality, the attacks in Paris, the media, and, ultimately, I began thinking about God.
It’s okay if you don’t believe. That isn’t for me to push on you here in this letter. But I do think the recent attacks in Paris have brought about an interesting if not cyclical issue. By cyclical, I mean that every time humanity faces a tragedy, two things seem to occur. People either blame God and subsequently decide they “no longer believe” or they blame religion. On the surface, this initial response makes sense. People blaming God for a tragedy that has befallen them—I get it, I was tempted to do the same when my husband was sick. I know what it feels like to think, “There is no God” as your heart is breaking into tiny pieces and tears are streaming violently down your cheeks. Tragedy occurs everywhere, every day, every minute—yet, when my life is perfect, I am willing to suspend disbelief and believe that God exists? It seems the moment that life is no longer flawless, the moment that the tragedy we hear about daily impacts us, we then decide there can’t be a God? Really? So, when all is good in your life there is a God, but when random cruel acts of reality impact your life, there isn’t? To me, this seems a bit self-absorbed and, quite frankly, silly. Why give up your belief at the exact time it just may offer some strength? Just look at this month’s health brief indicating research that shows spirituality is beneficial for cancer patients. Maybe it’s simply a matter of reframing the way you see God—not as someone that “gives you things that you can handle” but as someone that is there to help you “handle the things you are given.”
The other thing that happens is that people blame religion. I am not Muslim; I don’t pretend to even understand that religion. Yet, I am educated enough to know that ISIS does not represent all Muslims, similar to the way in the 1950s that the Ku Klux Klan did not represent all Christians.
So, if God isn’t to blame and religion isn’t to blame, then who/what? Because HELL YEAH (no pun intended) we need to blame someone/something. Perhaps the blame for tragedy goes to humanity. Humans cause riots, spew hate, bomb buildings, spray chemicals on produce and hijack airplanes. Because of humanity, there will be dark times. The world has a random order.
With that said, this season is the perfect time to find faith in something or someone bigger than yourself. If you are suffering this holiday season—feeling alone, longing for a lost loved one or simply disgusted by the evening news, I pray you find peace, hope, strength and something greater. I pray you find faith when you need it; and when you face your darkest moments, I pray “the good Lord shines a light on you, warm like the evening sun.”
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year!
Malama Pono!
Kelly Martinsen, Publisher
