Pack up your troubles...

Just finished a great book: The Faith Club.

Due to a rave review on Enchanted Schoolhouse, I checked out this lovely gem from the library.  It was such a heartwarming and thought provoking story of three moms who come together after 9/11 to write a children's book.  Instead, their meetings created a wonderful opportunity for inter-faith studies.

My favorite theological dialogue came on page 205, when Suzanne (the Christian mom) asked her Priest, "So there is a heaven?"

"Maybe we are in it already," Craig sad.  "Maybe we are living with one foot in this world and one foot in the other, but because we are stuck in our bodies, in this space and time, we can't perceive it.  The key is that our belief in eternal life enables us to live differently today.  Heaven is not a reward for faith.  But rather, our faith allows us to see that we're in God's kingdom already and that we should live according to his wishes."

Interestingly enough I found myself identifying with the Muslim mom, Ranya.  Her spirituality and her desire to find the perfect place to worship are completely in line with my own. 

I call myself a Christian, not because I think I am above the other religions in the world, but because I want to live my life and teach my ladybugs the way Jesus lived his life.  I don't care if Jesus married, I don't buy into the "man-made" trinity, I don't care if Jesus even died for our sins (original at that).  What I do think makes Jesus amazing, is his teachings and how he wanted us to be more like God.  To live with God and the Kingdom here on Earth.

Priscilla, the Jewish mom, recounts a sweet story that her father told her about paper bags.  He told her if everyone put their problems in a paper bag and then thew the bags in a pile.  Which bag would you pull out of the pile?  Would you pull out your own?  Even at his death (a difficult bought of cancer), Priscilla's father said he would still choose his own paper bag. 

This story of a paper bag filled with troubles reminds me of a song I learned in Kindergarten. 

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.
Don't let your joy and laughter hear the snag
Smile boys, that's the style
What's the use of worrying
It never was worth while
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And smile, smile, smile.