Next to our bed is a collage and hanging on it are three necklaces – a cross I bought in New Mexico, a second cross that was a gift, and a representation of Ganesha, the Hindu deity,  which I don’t wear right now but like to look at. Maria brought it back from India.

Every night, before going to sleep, I hang the cross, and in the morning, I put it on. I am not a Christian; I was born a Jew and converted to Quakerism in my teens.

I consider myself an eclectic; I’ve always felt closest to the early Christian prophets and writers, including Jesus Christ; their view of faith still hit home with me.

Today, we are all living with a test of our faith, no matter what our beliefs. Some people put their faith in a “left” or a “right,” some people choose a religion or a value system.

“Reason is, in fact, the path to faith,” wrote Thomas Merton, “and faith takes over when reason can say no more.”

Living through this Pandemic and through these troubled and divisive times, I see that reason is my guide to faith, and my foundation, but there is a point where reason ends, and I just have to take the leap and embrace faith itself.

I believe people are good. I believe the truth will always prevail, even though it will always struggle.

Merton also wrote that love is our true destiny, and I have come to believe that as well. My faith lies in a life of meaning. I believe if a man or woman is to live, he or she must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, and spirit.

I believe that fear and anger are both marks of spiritual insecurity; they are a matter of geography; they are spaces to cross.

I guess that is why I wear the cross. Love is really only about one thing; the good of the one loved. Everything else has to take care of itself. Love is its own reward or no reward at all.

We live to make the lives of others better.

I find my faith is sustaining and guiding me, even though it is challenged and tested in one way or another every day. The Pandemic and the anger in our world is a test, and my faith is to pass the test as best I can.

I do the best I can for as long as I can.