Broccoli

Courtesy of Pixabay

Have you ever said to yourself, "I hate _________."  Fill in the blank. My cousin, in our infrequent phone call right after Easter, shared how he is trying to stop using the phrase "I hate..." and broccoli was the first thing he thought of; he then proceeded to expound on that word, "hate."  He realized it wasn't as black and white as the word implies but earlier years of various times eating broccoli, he is just not fond of it. We have all been there.

There are other words like "always" and "never"  that leave no room for any grey on the spectrum.  This brought us to the idea of believing in God or not.  This is a very hard concept for some. 

One thing about my cousin is that he is always trying to live in a good, orderly direction.  He is very thoughtful, compassionate, respectful and loving. He realizes how the word, "hate," is a strong, antagonistic, limiting word.  I really think words like "acceptance", "tolerance" and "like" would be more to his liking in his vocabulary. 

He proceeded to go into a theological direction, sharing his "heady" explanations and beliefs.  He readily shared his words that are in his head, explaining his stance on his lack of belief in a God. I have known many people who have an aversion against formal beliefs and dogma surrounding a particular religion or even the thought of whether there is a God or not. Sometimes, the faith and beliefs some were raised with end up not supporting them in later years; so it is with my cousin.

One thing that caught my attention was that he is always doing the right thing, is kind to others, respects and is tolerant.  He lives in a very good orderly direction. He could agree that this is how he tries to live. I then proposed that even if he did not have a formal thought of the presence of God that within this good orderly direction, God is there. 

This was a new way of thinking for my cousin. He wanted me to make a post of this conversation and after we talked awhile he said, "You know, I couldn't put my thoughts all together but I knew you would come up with something.

It might behoove each of us to think of things we might "hate." Sometimes we may just need a good conversation with another person who might see or say something in a way that opens the heart to other ways of thinking. 

Maybe it's such that if we no longer say "I hate (broccoli)" we can come to be more tolerant and accepting and be conscious of living with new thoughts and behaviors. I wonder if this isn't the real meaning of Easter?  Happy Easter, Greg!