Image taken from Thy hand hath provided As I said a few days ago, we have a silly amount of coriander in our garden at the moment. I made some pesto with it, but there is still lots left and I know it is going to bolt to seed as soon as I turn my back. I found an awesome blog with lots of recipes using seasonal ingredients. It is based in the US so the seasons are all upside down compared to us, but there are recipes from past years that can be used. There was a great recipe for freezing coriander, sort of a pesto without the nuts. I made one quantity a couple of days ago and intend on making at least one more.
As the title suggests, the writer of the blog is religious. It has been amazing for me to notice how many of the blogs I follow with amazing material on them are written by people who follow religions that have sent me rushing to google what their beliefs are! The writer of this blog is a mennonite. I had visions of Amish people out in the fields harvesting their crops in long dresses, but was confused as to how this allowed the writer to have a blog! So I did some reading and discovered that although there are Mennonites who live like that, the main teaching is being peaceful and against war, and it is possible to live a 21st century lifestyle and be a mennonite!
There are also several blogs I follow by Mormans. My main knowledge of Mormans come from seeing young men on bikes and the book The 19th wife (which I highly recommend). It was amazing to me to see that people who were Morman had enough of a non-religious life to produce a blog that was all about something completely unrelated to being a Morman! I guess my lesson here is that religion, although an important part of a person, is not the sole expression of their identity. I shouldn't assume that people who follow religions I am not entirely familar with can't have interests outside of going to church! Lessson in religious tolerance for me!
I have been thinking about religion a bit recently. My 3 year old has been asking some of the tough questions about life like "What happens to us when we die?", "Where do we go?". I am agnostic and don't have any firm beliefs either way about the existence or non-existence of a god, but to tell a 3 year old there is no god or no life after death just seems so depressing and such a cruel thing to do. She goes to a christian daycare and as my grandmother said "Let her believe and make up her own mind when she gets older". I thought that was really wise advice. My problem is I would love to believe in something so beautiful as heaven, but if I think about it too much my rationality kicks in and I just can't take the leap of faith. I have also been thinking about the sense of community of a church. We go to music at a church once a week, and the volunteers who are attached to the church are just so wonderful and caring. In this day and age with little kids I miss that sense of community where everyone helps take care of each other, and you can feel like you are part of something. Lots to think about anyway!
Thanks for listening to my babble - what do you think?
Well as you know I've been brought up Catholic but not practising. I don't really believe in God as I too can't make sense of this when I think of the science of life. But I have also been following blogs of amazing women who go to church so when we get settled next year I'm going to go to church with my family and see if it brings some life balance and spirituality to me/us.
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