About Faith

To my readers: A note about occasional faith references that are within the With Grace story:

The faith language contained in some posts under the With Grace topic is an integral part of my mother’s story and that is the context in which I share it. If it differs from your faith tradition or spirituality, I invite you to adapt it to your own. While cherishing my faith, I respect the richness of different faiths and marvel at the intersections where we can meet.

In my career as a coach, I worked with people from all backgrounds and belief systems. I provided private coaching to individuals as well as executive coaching for organizations. Meeting clients where they were without imposing my philosophy was what served them best and what was required professionally.

This approach carried over to my writing for In the Current. Using more of a universal language, my intention is to offer pieces that are relatable to many and hopefully I accomplish this. The telling of my mother’s story – With Grace – cannot be relayed without references to her faith as well as mine and since that is the case, I thought it would be helpful to provide this background.

A common question today is: “Are you religious or spiritual?” Often this is presented as a mutually exclusive choice or with the implication that a particular answer is preferred. Some equate “religious” with a restrictive box and others view “spiritual” as diluted or new age.

When that question is posed to me I typically answer by saying that I realize those words can be loaded and defined differently depending on your perspective. Aspiring to the best aspects in each, I consider myself both religious and spiritual. There are many – not all – who practice what’s commonly referred to as an “organized religion” and are also deeply spiritual. Likewise, there are many who are deeply spiritual who do not affiliate with a particular religion.

I am Catholic and my husband is Jewish. I have friends from various religious and spiritual backgrounds. Learning from each other is what strengthens, broadens and deepens our individual faith experiences. I’ve seen that we do not need to have identical beliefs to share insights, concepts and ideas – to help each other to grow. And thank goodness for that!

I hope this context is helpful as you venture into the writing at In the Current.