“How am I going to answer the religion question?”
DJ had the questions for her application to a private Catholic high school for over a week – and this is the first time she asked the question I had been waiting for her to ask – how to answer the religion question.
“Focus on the spirituality aspect of it. Focus on the idea that you are exploring your spiritual options and part of it is to learn about other religions. Be honest in saying you have found pieces of various religions that have resonated with you, but so far have not found the one that feeds you the way you are hoping.”
All are true statements. No bullshit answer in how I suggested she focus her answer.
She agreed with the tactic, then went on to explain her own opinion on the subject.
“I like the idea of believing in something that makes sense, that I cannot explain – people want an explanation – they want it to be something that can be proven. But really, it’s what works for you.”
*Ding-ding-ding*
We talked about how religions often call the same things different words. I used the idea of manifesting as a great example. We talked about how energy workers and wiccans (to name a few) use that word – manifest – to describe putting energy out to making something happen – focusing it to try to create a desired result.
“Christians and other religions do the same thing – manifesting – they just call it praying. Same idea – asking something greater for them for a desired account – focusing their energy and their thoughts through prayer to hopefully generate a result like making someone well, or finding help through a hard time, or keeping their family safe.”
This led to a conversation about energy in general. Since I was picking her up from being a CIT for the outdoor program for which is participating, I used that as a good place to start. “You know how when you get done with these day camps, you get into the car and ramble on and on, excitedly, with all of the stories you have from day camp- about the kids and the experience and what you did? That is because you went and did something that fed your energy – you took in all of this great energy that you are on a high from it. And anyone around you feeds off of it – through your stories and your presence. That is energy – good energy. It is the energy that will keep you awake until you get rid of enough of it that you can sleep. ”
Because when she come back from the woods and the experience of learning and experiencing something in the woods, she is buzzing. You cannot be around her without feeling it. It feeds her soul – and it shows to everyone. Hell, the head of the camp she was helping with even said something to me that this was a kid who is awesome to be around not just for how she helps but for her attitude during it all.
She thought about it for a minute, then told me she has noticed that with people she is around. There are some that drain her of her energy – making her want to be away from them – and some that make her feel good. It was a great talk.
G and I have these moments with our kids where we look at each other afterwards and say “wow – THIS age – THIS is the great age.”
We say this every year. But I walked away pretty in awe of this age – this conversation – this dialog I can have with my kid.
Definitely a good age.
Now, given that conversation, I am really curious how she answers that question on her application.
