Religion. Spirituality. Belief. Faith.

What do you believe in?

I was raised Catholic. I went to a Catholic school for 12 years. My mother took me to church on Sunday until I was 8. I think she got tired of going. I still went to church because it was a requirement of the school. We went twice a week in grammar school. We went on holy days of obligation in high school. I would sit and listen to the Priest drone on and on. My mind would wander, and I would day-dream. Once I graduated college, I never set foot in a Catholic church again.

Somewhere, sometime, someway, something sunk into my brain. Here’s what I got out of attending Catholic church: the basics. Basic rules and principals to which I live my life by. To me, that means being a good person: treating others as I’d want to be treated, be kind to your parents, loving my significant other, and so on. This is the message that I took away. I don’t follow all of the rules of the faith which is why I do not believe I am a Catholic.

I’m religion-less right now. I go to a Methodist Church every Sunday, but I wouldn’t consider myself to be a Methodist. A friend of mine said to me one day, “Come to church with me. You might enjoy hearing the Pastor’s sermon. He’s an excellent speaker.” I’m always up for something new, so I found myself at the First United Methodist Church in Valparaiso, Indiana. I continued going to church after that day because I really liked the message the Pastor conveyed. He captured my interest which is why I continue to go to church now. For me, I love finding a greater message beyond the weekly sermon. I love digging out that message, applying it to my life and trying to make myself a better person.

Believing in something gives me a greater passion about it. When I’m truly passionate about something, I approach it in an entirely new way which adds better meaning to my life. I’m not just passionate about being a better person. I’m passionate about health and fitness, developing relationships with friends and loved ones, my three crazy dogs, etc. Finding belief inspires passion which fuels the fire of an amazing life.

Whatever you believe in is waiting to be discovered inside of you. You don’t have to subscribe to a church to find it either. You never know when something will fall out of the sky, bonk you on the head and take your breath away. You might find something you really believe in while listening to your favorite AM radio station on the way to work, in a song on the FM station (or Sirius Satelie XM), in a picture, while on the morning run, or while eating green eggs and ham. Whatever it is that inspires you to believe, I encourage you to find it, dig in and use it to become the best you that you can be.

Sara