Turn Around

When I think of my spirituality today, I can’t help but think of my younger days.
Sitting in that church with my family wondering when will this be over.
Having that small rubber ball that I would roll from one end of the pew to bouncing back to me was at the time the only thing that kept my mind busy.
That in itself should’ve been bad enough I suppose.
However, I was sitting in the first pew and my mother was the one at the podium preaching.
Looking down every so often with that horror look in her eyes that was telling me.
“Just wait ‘til you get home.”
Which, as a kid seemed like an eternity.
“She’ll forget most likely.” I would think to myself.
But she never did.
“Someday.’’ She would say. “You’ll look for God.”
However at that age the only thing I was looking for was getting out of this monkey suit that was my Sunday cloths I would have to wear.
Off would come those dress pants that I couldn’t run in or kneel down in the tall grass to play with my small metal matchbox cars.
Off with that shirt that I couldn’t drink anything that would stain my front with.
Off with that tie – even though it was a clip on, I still had to have my top button fastened to keep it on.
What a pain.
To finally having my shorts back on.
My favorite T-shirt, which was at the time, The Six Million Dollar Man running.
Along with my old sneakers.
No socks of course.
As time moves on and life turns, those moments I would laugh when my mother would bring them up.
There was even a time in my earlier teens that I looked forward to Sunday’s.
Dressing up in my finest clothes, even thinking that maybe I’ll go further in my religious education like my mom did.
‘Til I fell in love.
Not that that should of stopped me, it was love.
I had always thought I’d make the right choice.
But as time moves on that small rubber ball, that ambition to further my religious views, even that small little boy with a clip on tie was forgotten.
Even that feeling of dressing up on Sundays.
Heck, even my girl is gone – moving on with her life, getting married and having kids of her own.
To this date, that is still one of my biggest amendments I have had to make.
The time I took from her.
In the end my mom was right, I did look for God.
Asking for the impossible, expected to be heard, ‘til I was praying, please not again – not again.
I had moved so far away from God that when I finally wanted him I could not see.
How blind I was.
As time went by, having those thoughts go in and out of my head like.
“Is there even a God?”
“What if we’re wrong?”
“What if they’re right?”
Going from wanting to believe to not even thinking about it.
As long as you had what I needed or wanted.
Years ago my mother had given me a gold cross.
I wore it for a short time then placed it around my rear mirror of my vehicle.
Over time I hung another cross.
A small Ankhs.
The Pagan star.
The Hindu symbol.
Even a crows feather.
At the time one of my friends mother’s evening gave me a Jewish star.
I’m not Jewish.
I had so many religious symbols hanging that when I put the brakes on I had to hold them back in fear that they would hit and crack my windshield.
I was always looking at that time in my life.
I used to bring a coworker in to work with me Monday through Friday.
She would give me gas money that sadly went into my tank instead of the cars.
One day she asked me, “If I was into religion?”
I can tell you that I was horrified!
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“Why would you even say that?” I added.
She just looked at me and pointed to all the cluster of items hanging from my rear mirror.
“Oh these.” I said, looking back at her.
“Well, one of these are bound to work.” I said.
That’s how I look at it.
As time moved on and life turns I have found a God of my understanding with the help of others.
Not the one I was introduced to as a child or that young man looking to furthering his religious education.
Not even the ones I looked for hanging down from my rear mirror.
When I do talk about my spirituality today to people I will often say,
“That my spirituality is not the same as yesterday.
Or a week ago, a year, or ten years.
It’s always changing and growing.
As long as I seek it out.”
There has been many times that I can look at in my life that God has had my back. Looking out for me in spite of myself.
I’ve heard, “That God watches over drunken fools.”
Well, I fit both of those categories throughout the years of my using.
Heck, even some of my sober years when making some really bad decisions.
God was there.
But when I stopped running.
Stopped looking for things that was not part of God’s plan for me.
What ever they may be.
All the searching in my life for something.
Some power outside of myself.
When I finally gave over my will, God was always there.
All I had to do was Turn Around…