Follow that Goddamn Star

I am a person of Faith. Most people who know me, know this, but saying something like this can be pretty loaded as lots of people carry many preconceived ideas around words like: Faith, Religion, Spirituality. So I tend to tread carefully when using these words. 

For me, I believe in what I do, because I've had experiences through out my life that have led me to these belief's. For me, they are experiences of a higher power, a higher consciousness in the universe. 

As well, these experiences had guided the way that I interact with this Divinity - which is why throughout my life I've followed Christianity, Buddhism, Shamanism and Wicca; which is a long, long, long story and  not a rabbit hole to jump into right now. 

For the purpose of this post, it's helpful to know that I'm currently following the path of Jesus as a Wisdom Teacher and looking to Christian Faith as my way of connecting with the Divine. 

Back at Epiphany (Jan 6) at the church I work at, we made Star Gifts. Epiphany is the celebration of the Magi visiting Jesus in the Manger. They followed a star and gave Jesus gifts: Frankincense, Myrrh, Gold. 

We borrowed an idea from another church to give gifts from the stars to members of the congregation. Each paper star had a word on it. A word that was a gift from the stars/God/Divinity etc... the invitation was to keep this star and this word as something to ponder, meditate with, pray over etc... throughout the year. 

We handed out this stars, with words on them like: Compassion, Laughter, Love, Thoughtfulness, Comfort: all Upside- down so that people didn't pick their words. It was random. 

I took a star. It was blue. I was handing out stars to kids and put mine aside for a moment and didn't look at it. 

*Now we switch gears for a moment*

At the same time I was trying to make a decision about going on a trip to Israel.  I've always wanted to go to Israel. Holy sites aside, so much of Human history comes from that part of the world. The first civilizations, the first cities, the development of agriculture - all of these things began in this part of the world. 

Three of our planets major religions struggle to co-exist in this tiny little land about the same size of Vancouver Island. 

This is a tiny place. 

I don't feel educated enough to make any sort of statements about the conflict that exists between the people in this part of the world. I've never lived in a place with mandatory military service, walls and checkpoints. I've never lived some where that's been bombed, where people walk around with guns, where the religion you are born into directs almost everything about your life. 

I don't know what any of these things are like, and so will not comment on any of it, now. But I want to learn, to experience, and possibly understand a little better what's happening there. 

*Back to Epiphany. * As I've said, It's pretty easy to chalk things up to coincidence and confirmation bias these days. Skepticism can be a healthy thing in these times of fake news and alternative facts. 

I like a little mystery and a little wonder in my life. It makes the world brighter and certainly more interesting. 

So, I flipped over my star - my gift from the divine, my invitation for something to live into for 2017. What did my star say? 

So Ya. I'm going to Israel. I'm following that Star. 

`