I used to view my prayer life as a long ‘to-do’ list for God so I could tell him what I wanted changed in my life. I would ask him to change people so they could be better suited for my own needs. Yes, that was me.
“God, change my husband to make him be ABC and XYZ so *I* could have 123 & 456.”
I prayed that way because I was taught to. I was told that was those were the ‘right’ things to ask for.
Oh I prayed that way about my friendships too. I really thought it was correct.
Over time it seemed as though my prayer life was nothing more than a selfish wish list, a chant if you will. A magical list of what *I* wanted to have come true.
Then a sweet friend prayed with me one day and her words woke me up,
“Lord, allow Lisa to see her husband as you see him.”
Smack me in the head with a 2×4!
I had been seeing him through the eyes of the devil, with condemnation. My ‘prayers’ were nothing more than wickedness to control him to do my bidding. How selfish of me.
I began to view prayer much differently. It had to do with my heart’s desire more than it did with the words I was reciting. Sometimes prayer can become so ritualistic, then it seems to make me numb. Going through the motions.
Then I heard a story about a woman who had a neighbor who was very difficult to get a long with. This story became more influential to me when I heard the woman was a witch. Her prayer (spell) for the man was that he would relocate. Her heart condition was not that of seeking for something bad to happen to him, but that something good could come of it. He got a job promotion that moved him to another city. They both benefitted. The witch’s first ‘creed’, if you will, is ‘Harm no one’. They believe that when you put out good, it returns to you.
This reminded me of Isaiah 55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Through Jesus, I see that God’s purpose is to love us. Jesus teaches us that we reap what we sow. Therefore, if we sow love, we will reap love. If we sow freedom, we will reap freedom. If we sow control, we reap being controlled. If we sow hostility, we reap hostility.
Then there are times when we do all we can to respond to tough times with grace. And we go through suffering for the cause of grace. The self righteous don’t want to bless us, they want to curse us. They don’t want to give freedom and peace, they want to condemn and control.
The apostle Paul (who was the apostle to my most ancient pagan ancestors), said that love is not irritable or resentful. The flesh will always war with the Spirit. It’s the letter of the law that kills. The Spirit brings life, not death.
Then there was a time when evangelism was barbaric in nature. If you didn’t believe in one church’s doctrines you would have been jailed, tortured, and burned to death. Thankfully we don’t see that happening in America, but it is happening in other countries. (Warning: graphic video) When people walk in fear, it breeds hostility. What spirit is it that leads people to beat fellow humans and burn them alive? Not *my* God. Jesus teaches me to love people. What spirit is it that condemns others? Not the one I follow! I follow the Spirit of grace and love. I admit though, it’s not always easy to follow grace when being attacked, or when seeing others attacked.
Then I find in 1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
This is when it’s the toughest for me to extend grace. I’m called to bless those who do evil to me and my loved ones. Jesus said, “do good to them that hate you.”
Do Christian bloggers pray, asking amiss? Are we just out to get all the Christian blogs to win just so they can be in the top 25 so the Pagans won’t be? Isn’t that asking amiss? How is that shining a Light of love and grace to Pagan moms? Maybe we should re-examine our hearts and see what the intention really is? I can see why folks would want to support one another as bloggers out of a heart of love and support. However, it may be an entirely different heart that does so out of spite and an evil competitive spirit.
{photo credit Melinda at Pix-O-Sphere}
One blogger said that they want the Christian blogs to go out into the blogosphere and tell about Jesus, but you think Jesus will bless that when your method of evangelism requires that you ‘burn’ the witches out of the way first?
Are Christian burning witches in the blogosphere? Burning them with hate-filled blog posts, inflammatory tweets, or casting them into the fires of nasty cyber war? So, I admit again, I have a difficult time showing grace to these Christians right now. They dish out the letter of their law and expect…what in return? The letter of the Law kills. So they give out the Law, it’s what they sow and it’s what they’ll reap. No grace for you. It’s not that I don’t think they need it, but it’s their own free choice to reap what they sow.
And yet I see grace coming from many Pagan mommies. So it’s grace they shall reap. In fact, I think they’ve been walking in grace for a very long time.
May we not light bonfires for witch hunts, but rather light candles in honor peace and the Prince in whom peace comes from.
{photo credit Ellen at Pix-O-Sphere}
Lisa, I am so thankful someone said something. One of those pagans in the running is also one of my friends. Yes I’m a Christian and have a pagan friend. Why? Because we are to love one another, even those who don’t believe what we do. She is good person, great heart, and an amazing friend. I have not participated in this voting because I’m not sure I want to be part of the hate online. It really saddens me. Thank you for sharing truth! I hope you don’t mind but I am sharing this on my favorite links post this week. xoxo
Hi Chele,
Although this ‘witch hunt’ was and is unfortunate, I think God revealed a lot through it. Jesus said we would know who follows God by how they love one another. Jesus dined with “pagans” and Paul said “I became all things to all people that I might save some” (not that Paul ‘saves’ them) but that he would have the opportunity to reveal that we are at peace now because of what the Divine has done. For those who don’t “get it” they remain at war. But war doesn’t have to be..we CAN be at peace. This whirlwind has given me a great opportunity to get to know Mrs. B and Angela because the drama directed my attention to see the fruit. I see graciousness in these ladies. I have come to the conclusion that Pagans and Christians have a lot in common..if they would just take the time to look. Granted not all Christians and not all Pagans are kind and gracious. But in our individual walks of faith, as we grow to maturity, we can believe that we are all safe among one another so we can learn to understand each other. These Pagan women have shown such beauty in their words and I grieve for any who have suffered persecution through this..as well as the Christians who have been hurt by their own Christian sisters. Sometimes people get caught up in the labels thinking the label is what defines them as ‘good’, but it’s by their fruit that we know who they are.
Lisa, this was so beautifully written. I wish I could give you a huge hug! Thank you. Thank you for showing what true Christian love is. I plan on showing this on my fan page, it has helped a lot in the healing process to be able to show that we all aren’t that much different when it comes to our viewpoints on love and interpretation of what it is we should all be doing.
Angela of The Pagan Mom Blog.
Hugs gladly received my dear. ((hugs))
This is my girl! Glad she saw it!
Beautifully said, Lisa! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Kallan. Mwwwa! xoxo
Lisa, Thank you so much for posting this. It’s amazing to see that there are some, like yourself, that do ‘get it’ , and want to be at peace. We all want and crave harmony and peace, and the way to that is not by attacking each other, but by looking at what we do have in common, and what we can work with.
Thank you, and Brightest Blessings to you
Mel
Melissa, that craving for peace and harmony..I believe was poured out on all of us through the Divine..some Christians just haven’t figured it out yet.
This happened at Pentecost and the crowd wanted to know what this manifestation was in them..
Acts 2: 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.b 16But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
Peter believed that this outpouring of the Spirit of the Divine was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy and this Spirit was poured out on ALL flesh.
And today when someone has a dream or a vision they’re called a heretic, when in fact they are manifesting exactly what was prophesied.
Thank you for this blog post. I got swept up in this hate filled chaos when it first started.
I am a Pagan. I was raised Lutheran. I know the Bible; I know the traditional prayers, songs and stories. I have experienced true Christian fellowship, and I’ve experienced true hate from the same group of people.
Never once have I experienced hate in the Pagan community. Frustration, anger, sadness and lashing out, yes, but never hate. Bitterness against certain groups of people is the closest to hate I’ve seen.
I am Pagan…and I PRAY. I pray more than one might think. I don’t always pray in front of my altar, or with the lighting of a candle. I ask my God, or my Goddess, whichever seems more appropriate, for assistance with patience, compassion and understanding. I do it in my car when someone cuts me off, or right before a stressful confrontation, or a doctor’s appointment…
I say the Serenity Prayer…I pray for strength…I pray for understanding.
I have a deep respect for the traditions and basic teachings of Christianity. They are very similar to the basic beliefs in my personal faith. What pushed me away from my Christianity was a combination of two things. I do not believe that there is a lack of femininity in the deity, and I know that the original Hebrew and Aramaic texts portray the Holy Spirit as feminine, but this aspect was lost in translation…and the oppression of women began. The second is the violent and harmful tactics employed by the early church, and still some sects today, against those who do not believe as they do. This was very apparent and easy to see in this chaos of online bashing.
I believe in loving my neighbor as myself. I believe in harming no one to reach my personal goals. I believe I reap what I sow…good and bad.
I try not to judge people, even as they judge me…
Thank you for sharing, Natalie. Yes, the feminine aspect of the Creator has been omitted by men who think their male organ makes them more spiritual.
I did see the attacks on my ancient ancestry as “Christianity” swept through their land. The concept ‘turn or burn’ was quite literal back then.
It’s never the Spirit of the Divine to force people to believe in religion of any kind. Just walk by faith and hear the Spirit speaking. Enjoy the journey and I hope our bloggy paths cross more often.
As a pagan, I completely agree with you. I have been a practicing pagan for over 15 years now and some of the things I have seen and had done to me make this whole situation a “not a surprise” for me. For example, I learned early in my path as a pagan, that if you have pagan stickers on your car, it will get targeted. Meaning, don’t be shocked if you go back to your car and find the door handles covered in dog poop, or the widows smashed (yep it happened, police even classified it as a hate crime since the only cars on the street with mashed windows had pagan symbols on them). I’ve had bibles thrown at me, been screamed at many times that I was going to hell, and even kicked out of peoples homes because I am not christian. I will never forget the time my Biology Professor in college paired me with the evangelical Christian girl in my class.. she was hoping I would calm her down.. nope. I ended up doing the work on my own because I wasn’t allowed in her home because I had a pentacle on my necklace. Can you imagine going through that just because you wore a cross? I now have to hide my faith around others, something that means the world to me and is in every breath I take. Imagine having the love you have for Jesus and having a truly spiritual relationship and not be able to share that side of you at all. And its not a choice I can really change, I have my family to worry about, and they should not have to suffer such things because of my beliefs. I have come to a point where I feel sorry for these women and types of people… they never get to know people like me, and they will never be able to grow as a spiritual person with a loving relationship with their god if they treat people like this. I hope that one day in my lifetime I get to see one of these people find a truly spiritual place in their hearts, because treating people like this is the opposite of spiritual growth. Bright Blessings to all of you ladies. ~Jasmine
I’m so sorry about the car..eek! I do understand about persecution as my family has gone through it too. By our ‘fellow Christian brethren’ when we started questioning their doctrines. I’m thankful for the outburst that took place, because it gave me the opportunity to see how you all responded.
I found in the bible why these divisions happen whenever we all gather somewhere (whether it’s cyberspace or in real life makes no difference)
in 1 Corinthians 11: 17But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
So you my dear ladies have been recognized.
((hugs))
“And yet I see grace coming from many Pagan mommies. So it’s grace they shall reap. In fact, I think they’ve been walking in grace for a very long time.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your beautiful post. As a Pagan mommy and blogger, I truly appreciate the wisdom in your words and that you took the time to inform yourself about what we believe. You get it. Thank you so very much.
Thank you for coming by and commenting. I look forward to getting to know you better. I’ve been enjoying the pagan blogs very much this last week. It’s been quite refreshing for me to make new friends who understand my heart.
Wow. I am impressed! I am a Pagan and you are one of the few Christians I have found who actually follow the teachings of Christ. I went to Christian school for five years, and spent my teen years going to youth group. However to be honest, Christianity wasn’t for me, and after I got old enough to see the hypocracy in most of the churches I went to, I really knew it wasn’t for me.
My own MIL is out of our life because of her attitude. She goes to the biggest church in town, (you know one of those go to see and be seen places) and when she found out I was pagan and rasing my kids pagan, she sent me one of the most hate-filled emails I have ever recieved. It began “When you profess to practice Pagan rituals, don’t expect to be treated in a Christian manner”. It went on to call me all sorts of names including demonic, and insane. Honestly if her behavior is a Christian manner I’d rather NOT be treated in a Christian manner lol.
I do have a few friends who are open minded Christians. We agree to disagree on some things and religion has never been an issue in our friendship. (altho one called to ask if she could drop by last June 21, and I told her she could but it was one of our holidays and we’d be having ritual and a bon fire. She did and tho she didn’t participate in ritual, had a good time with sitting around the fire later listening to my sons drum)
So thank you for your post. It makes me happy to see some tolerance.
Thank you for coming by, Mindi. Over time maybe she will begin to see how much Pagans and Christians really have in common. I pray her heart will be softened. Even Christians have rituals that have pagan origins. They just don’t know that yet. The history of Christianity is filled with pagan roots. When we first left our former church that is one of the reasons we left (oh we were QUITE legalistic back then) *we have come a long way* So back then, we had studied in depth what the roots of Christianity’s practices were from, walked away from all traditional Christianity, then began seeing more when we dug a bit further. Through watching all of you, studying my own pagan ancestry, and so much more it has put me at peace with all the rituals and traditions. What I have discovered is that as long as the ritual itself is not worshiped, we can remain focused on the Divine. I realized I could worship him without the rituals and be just as satisfied and I believe the Divine is as well. Some children show their love for their parents by making them breakfast, others by coloring a picture. Both are acceptable because they were given out of love. This has been a huge lesson for me. And I thank you all for being so gracious. Through your grace I have had a huge amount of healing in my own soul. Thank you thank you. ((hugs))
WONDERFUL post, Lisa. Thank you. I am a Pagan mom (not a blogger– no way, lol) and I strive to live my life the way you described it, with grace and love and getting along with everybody as best I know how. If I am the only Pagan/Witch that someone ever meets, I believe I represent ALL Pagans, and therefore it is my responsibility to do such in a good light and with the best of intentions. I love my Christian sisters and brothers. I believe we are all climbing the mountain, no matter which path we take to get there. Many blessing to you and yours.
Hi Pamela, I thought Christians were supposed to have that same wonderful outlook you just shared.
I just figure some people have some more growing to do.
I hope more and more people come to see what you see: that we don’t have to be the same, but we can be accepting. =)
I pray that as well, Mrs.B. I have been blessed to find others who do and we have great discussions on Facebook about all different angles in which we see the Divine. A brilliant Diamond with many facets.
Thank you for the post, it–as many have said–was beautiful, with many good points. I’ve been a Witch for 16 years, coming from a Southern Baptist family. A family who, for the most part, has accepted me. I’ve never been the kind to hide who I am, even after I was jumped by a group of teen boys when I was 12. It was a horrible experience, but it strengthened who I am and my faith. As well as my drive to reach out, tell my stories of struggle to inspire those who’ve been abused, victims of hate crimes, and so on. I found your blog to be very very inspiring.
I think it’s also fair to point about that there are fundamentalists in all faiths. I’ve encountered a fair few in the Pagan Worlds, too. As well as those who hate Christianity base on what a few have done, or simply because they just don’t agree with what yall believe and stand for. Same old, same old on all sides. The only thing I can do is try to educate them to not be so hypocritical. To open their eyes, even a little bit, to their friends and family who love and accept them, who are Christian. My bff for 20 years is an Irish Catholic, I love her family and they love me. It’s possible! I’ve even been attacked by Pagan Communities because of my sisterly relationship with her! It’s nuts! People bullying because they’ve got nothing else going for them. Too worried about what someone else is doing, instead of focusing on their family and their deity. Blessings! ~)O(~
y dish out the letter of their law and expect…what in return? The letter of the Law kills. So they give out the Law, it’s what they sow and it’s what they’ll reap. No grace for you. It’s not that I don’t think they need it, but it’s their own free choice to reap what they sow…..
This is so good, Lisa. What a lovely post.
A beautiful post. Thank you so much.