Why I believe in a higher power

I don't try to make a big deal about it or ram my faith down people's throats. I don't see anything in what Jesus said that makes me the boss or judge of anyone, although he did have quite a few things to say about the religious hypocrites of his day. If you're more comfortable with a different spiritual path or no path at all, fine. I got no need to beat you; I just want to go my way.

But every so often, I just need to say "Hallelujah," OK?

A friend of mine was going through a tough time last month — discouraged, full of self-doubt — so I dashed off a note meant to be encouraging and say, "Hey! You're important, everyone goes through times like this, you're not alone and you're worth a lot to me and to the rest of us." Didn't hear anything back immediately, but that's par for the course — sometimes this friend and I wait months for a personal update from each other. The beauty of the blogosphere is we're all in touch with each other most of the time anyway.

So the last couple of weeks I, too, have been going a time of discouragement and self-doubt. Every personal work project I have, and some of my day job stuff, has fallen behind schedule. Meanwhile, as the empire goes through its quadrennial celebration of state power that will lead up to the installation of a new emperor, I feel increasingly like an alien on a different planet. My brain and heart were starting to say, "Sure, you're falling behind, but what's the use? Nobody cares about the things you have to say anyway."

Then Wednesday, out of the blue, my friend dashed off a note that said, "Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts with me. I'm sorry it took me so long to say so, but you did help me quite a bit." And there, underneath the note, was what I had written a month ago.

They were exactly the words of encouragement that I needed now. It was like taking a 2 by 4 to myself and saying, "Hey! Everybody goes through times like this, you're not alone."

The reason I believe in a higher power is that it was something I needed to hear not today, not last week, but because of what was happening, I needed to hear it at about 3:00 Wednesday afternoon, yesterday. And there it was. The timing was perfect — not pretty good; perfect.

It's OK if you think it's just a happy coincidence. But I don't.