For the Kilpatricks, having a growing family is an awesome yet terrifying life change!
By Megan Kilpatrick
It occurred to me as I was thinking about this piece that this could very well be the last article I write for Musings and Younger Perspectives. I turn 35 this year; no matter how the Conference slices and dices it, I’m old. At least, no longer young enough to be considered a “Young Adult”. Bummer. Although I will say it’s a lot easier to not see the gray hairs if you aren’t looking for them J. Thanks to Jesse Love for inviting me to be a part of this milestone.
So there’s this story I once read….it was a long time ago so I’m lean on the details…maybe it came from some iteration of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”? Anywho, the lesson of the story was told by a woman whose folks weren’t particularly religious, yet they supported her going to youth group and church and being baptized. They told her (and her siblings), “Go where you find God.” She and her siblings took that advice to heart, and that’s why among them there’s a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Buddhist. They’ve each found God in their own way.
When I first starting writing for Musings and Younger Perspectives, I was a typical Young Adult: still figuring out family, career, how to be an adult, faith, friends, etc. We settled on the column name “Musings & Younger Perspectives” because it was a catchy play on the Ministries with Young People acronym (and we Methodists love our acronyms). But it was exciting to have a place for people my age to have a voice, and to write about what our faith means to us as millennial in the “None Zone”. All of us “young people” are all over the map in terms of theology, life experiences, and opinions, and it is so neat to read columns that others have written. I’ve learned a lot from my peers!
But time passes, as it does, and life is what happens when you’re making other plans, according to the Beatles. I’m married now, and have a family and a career. I’m almost properly in middle age. Yikes! But I find myself thinking about finding God, now that I have a son more than ever. (And no, that does not equate raising our children in the church because we feel some sort of responsibility to doing that. That ship has sailed.)
Here’s the thing: there’s a lot of change happening right now—not just in the church, but also in politics and everything else. It’s either awesome or terrifying, depending on your perspective. And the Church is moving towards A Way Forward, because that’s how time works and we can’t stick our denominational head in the sand forever. Change is hard, and leads to a lot of uncertainty. But at the end of the day, no matter what happens to the Church-with-a-capital-C, my faith is going to be just fine, because I have gone where I have found God (and to get into specifics would be an entire column). And that’s also why I’m not worried about my son. It is my paramount duty to raise him as a Child of God, no matter where it takes him. I promised that at his baptism, and I mean it. No matter what happens in the next four years, or what the Methodist Church looks like after 2020, his faith will be solid. He’ll go where he finds God. And I’ll be a proud Mama when he does.
Megan Kilpatrick is a member of Puyallup United Methodist Church.
