I was so surprised with the reveal in Episode 5 Season 4 that Rex goes to church with Joey even as he identifies as an atheist.
Bear and I have a complementary approach to our individual Spiritual Beliefs. I might be more of a Deist now but Queer Affirming Christ Follower still could be a label that I might consider returning to in the future.
Bear is more just someone open to be searching for what fits her. What she and I do have in common is we embrace the narrative that The Universe has our back. That she ships Bear and I.
One practice we do is lean towards gratitude. The effect is we search for things to be grateful for. I would say this is a bit of what Philippa Perry talks about in terms of a couple influencing each other.
I aim to remind myself that when I get to the point where I'm frustrated with something about Bear, that me accepting that part of her is accepting that part of me. Because the fact that I'm annoyed by it probably indicates that aspect of Bear is part of my Shadow Self.
This is what I love about Helen and Harville's book 'Receiving Love' the idea that when I learn to love the parts of My Person that frustrated me, I am also learning to love the parts of myself that I had exiled. It could be due to my current environment or people who I trusted didn't accept those parts of me and I had to hide those parts thinking that it's how I can be safe and worthy.
When I got to 13:54 in the episode, Rex reveals that Christianity was forced upon him shortly when he started dating Joey. Somehow I'm reminded of a pastor (a man), who I no longer listen to (his talks), making a joke out of someone being careful when they date a Christian. How a Christian will try to convert them.
When I watched that talk from this pastor, I could see how the humour could be seen as satire and not hurtful. Because it is true that certain churches send a message to their attendees that their theology is the right approach and therefore those who believe otherwise is in danger of missing out.
I'm thankful that when my Feminist Awakening happened in 2021, that it brought me to the realisation that The Bible was put together to appeal to Cisgender Men.
It was only later than I found out that people who I knew for decades had a Theological Belief that a woman is only considered if there's no Adequate Man available. That wasn't the reason that I became more intentional in ensuring that I support institutions that are Queer Affirming or even consider attending Churches unless they have Queer Identifying Individuals in their Leadership Team.
Just helped take a tree down for a woman who was on the first female wildland firefighter and hotshot crew in Montana. It was an honor to sketchily climb her tree with my sis and drop it so it stops leaning into her house. 💪🏽
