We don't have to believe it, for it to be true.

 As I have said here before, I loved Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.
I find her interesting and uplifting.

Recently on her blog she had this posted:


Of course I thought right away....'sounds very familiar to me.'
How about Matthew 10:39:
"He that findeth his life shall lose it: 
and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."

Gretchen admits in her book that she is not religious. 
She labels herself as a "reverent agnostic"

How can a non Christian have such Christian beliefs?

I was thinking this same question decades ago when I asked a friend of mine about my Grandmother. 
She was one of the most giving, kind, and devoted-to-humanity-people I knew, 
yet she told me she did not believe in God. 
She was respectful of our religion, and of all others as far as I could tell. 
But she believed that when we die it was all over. 
No after life, nothing to look forward to.

Yet, she lived such a Christ like life. 
Whenever I stayed with her we would visit the sick and needy around her neighborhood. 
She knew a lady named Dot who was blind and we would walk several blocks 
so we could "pay her a visit" as my Grandma would say. 
Then there was the Sears family who lived with their disabled daughter. 
She would tell them, "Mary Jane and I came by to see you." 
I never knew why she called me Mary Jane. My mom said she use to call her that too. 
Mom would say, "If she liked Mary Jane so much, then why did she name me Gaynor!"

Anyway, back to my Grandma. 
We would go to the library together every Friday. 
One day she asked the librarian if there was anyone who needed us to bring books to them. 
We were given the name of Mrs. Boman. 
So from then on we picked her up on our way, 
and Mrs. Boman would leave with her huge stack of Harlequin Romances 
stuffed into her mesh carry out bag.

So how could such a great woman as my Grandma, 
who lived such a Christ like life, not even believe in God? 
My friend's answer was so simple, 
"Whether we believe in God or not, we are still created in His image."

Truth is truth, and we don't have to believe it to make it so.









9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like your grandma was a Christian and didn't know it.
My understanding is that being a Christian is not about believing in a certain doctrine, but doing what Jesus told us to do... following his example. Doing is much harder than believing.
darlene

Raven said...

You pose a provocative question, and the answer by your friend makes a lot of sense.

Unknown said...

Your Grandmother was a remarkable woman. And she is now grateful for you and the knowledge you have!

Lisa said...

Thanks for writing this as the theme has been running through my mind lately. I cracked up over the Mary Jane thing as the way you wrote it was so perfect! Again, I'm blessed by your words. Oh yeah...and THANK YOU too for those profound words on my blog as your comment struck a real chord for me. It was something I needed to hear or should I say see. THANKS. Love you.

Susan Anderson said...

And I can't help but believe it's those people who have an easy time accepting the gospel in the spirit world.

=)

Karen Mortensen said...

Beautiful thoughts here. I wonder things like that too. I am so grateful there are good people in this world who follow the example of Christ.

Richard said...

Lella was a remarkable woman. I was too young to really appreciate her, but you're even younger...you must be a wise, old soul. I look forward to meeting her again some day.

grandmapeg said...

I love your friend's comment!! That makes so much sense to me. And I loved how your grandma called you Mary Jane, but I love your mom's comment even more!

Becky Jane said...

As I was reading your post, I got the impression that your grandmother has passed away and my thought was, "now she knows!"

Happy Tuesday.

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