God: some opening remarks

I wrote a series on faith last Sunday. It’s an idea I’ve been mulling over for some time now, but couldn’t get on paper. It’s good – important for me – and I find myself eager to share it since it’s been sitting with other posts that may not ever see publication.

However, how you look at God? That’s touchy for some people, and it has never been my intention here to offend. So I wanted to preface my stories with a clear statement that it’s not my purpose to explain to you the ways of the world according to wise Katie. I want you to know how it’s working for me now – what I think, how I fit my experiences into this idea I have of faith.

I think it’s personal, and perhaps it’s foolish to share what I’ve written. But it’s also a core internal strength for me, so I find myself very willing to learn about what you think, your experiences, if you disagree, or have found something similar to be true for yourself.

I also trust you a great deal. I keep going back of MplsJu’s comment on one of the dating posts. I almost choked on the water I was drinking at the time – I thought it was really funny. But then I realized that it’s pretty true. The writing here can be tedious at times – I get lost in descriptions and indulge myself because, well, you don’t have to read it. And I like it – it’s a lot like my internal monologue.

However, I’m not as fond of my habit of telling stories, then coming back to take your hand walk you through them again – pointing out parts I thought were important, carefully drawing conclusions, making sure we’re all on the same page. Hell, Dryden has seen points in some of my posts that I didn’t even know were there. You guys are getting it – there’s no need for me to point out things I think were cool, because you’ve already seen them.

So while I like to think you nod along patiently when I do it, there’s a chance that eventually a chance that you’ll say, “Right. I know – I can read. I don’t need you to explain it to me, you pretentious, redundant moron.” Perhaps you've thought it already, so I'll try to calm down over here.

The thing is, it was hard for me to take out those explanations from some of these posts, prevent myself from drawing explicit conclusions for you. Instead, I’m experimenting with telling my stories, carefully sneaking in what I thought of some of them, but leaving most of the “hey, look at this!” explanations out, then letting you have it to consider. It’s my hope that you offer me your thoughts if you have them – whether in comment or email – so if I update the series one day, I can include an entry on ‘what I learned from my friends online.’

Lastly, and most importantly, if I offend you, please know it was unintentional. That my many readings of these posts somehow skipped over something hurtful. I very much hope you’ll be in touch if you find yourself upset. In this case, I’d very much like to apologize.