Conviction.

Have you ever found yourself thinking twice about a decision? or had to apologize for a poor decision? or made an irrational decision? The struggle between right and wrong in our minds is a constant battle, only being relieved through justification or conviction. Many people disagree with truth or the legitimacy of the bible but, outside of the religious-political charge of our society, the principles are strong. And of course, any principle taken to an extreme can be dangerous. Strong principles leads to conviction. The word conviction may sound judicial, unforgiving or law-breaking to you. To me conviction is freedom. Because once you feel conviction that is born out of love and not born out of legalism you recognize you are living for a purpose bigger than yourself. Conviction from a legalistic, or can we say religious, epicenter breeds false actions. We are not called to follow blindly but to act with intentions that are legitimized through our everyday faith. Radical conversions are fun to talk about, dream about and pray for as long as the faith they converted to last longer than the story. I hope I am being converted everyday, so my conversion story will take years to tell.

I hope my story is about the people I affected, not the church services I attended.

I hope it's deeper than Sunday mornings. The Catechism. By-laws. Rituals. and the like.

I hope it's about saving lives and not about my volunteer hours.

I hope it's about my willingness to accept and understand people and not about my judgment of people.

I hope it's about following my convictions and not about following a religious leader.