God's Straws

Leah Weiner, Prozdor Grade 10

“The straw that broke the camel’s back” is a common expression and experience meaning that there have been several incidents that would be insignificant, however together they create something significant. When one is trying to explain why the “straw broke the camel’s back” they often have a hard time, knowing that to an onlooker of the situation, there is no significance in the last “straw”, so one must tell all the “straws”, every insignificant detail that led to the snap, and even then, comprehension of the situation is not guaranteed.

I believe in God. It’s not something I just decided one day, and it’s not something I have always believed, but when there were several “straws” piled onto me by God, I had to believe. Each breathtaking incident or feeling I experience could have been shrugged off as common, but like the pile of “straws”, these incidents mean something when piled together. They create a certainty to God’s existence.

Just like someone explaining how the “straw broke the camel’s back”, I have trouble explaining my belief. Experiences have given me reason to believe, experiences that I can not possible share with words, the kind that one has to personally experience to believe. I have seen creations such as the amazing colors in rocks, or a village from the top of a mountain. I have met amazing, beautiful, talented and determined people. I have felt intense feelings and made wishes that come true against all odds. When these moments are put together I see the similarities between them. During each, I was experiencing God.

Many people question God’s existence because they can’t understand how evil could possibly coexist with God. They ask how hunger, poverty and war can go on in this world if God is watching over us. I don’t know the answers, belief does not mean understanding, but I have learned how to respond to these questions, to preserve my belief. I ask them, How can we experience good without bad? We would have nothing to relate our good fortune to. Maybe the evils we know aren’t true evils. Then they ask, How come holy people sometimes have a miserable life, where others who don’t believe in God live a rich, luxurious life? My answer: God has to keep his existence in question, or God wants his believers to live a full, meaningful life, and it is impossible to do that when spoiled with luxuries.

I can not possibly convince anyone of God’s existence, I cannot get anyone to understand every straw, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t believe. God could be a sixth sense, a sense too complex for the human brain to fully understand. God could be an ideal we all strive to become. God could be the big bang, the creator of the universe. God could be an all-knowing, all-powerful being or God could be each and every one of us. I don’t know the details of God’s existence, but I believe that God exists.