"Delicate" women.

I saw this just before Christmas and thought it odd and powerful and raw. I was raised in the evangelical Christian church and left when I was 20 to start my own life. That's when I left the church and began my journey into spirituality.

I remember how that word "spirituality" was used with an eye roll, as in, "Spiritual, whatever the hell that means 🙄. Nowadays it seems no one bats an eye at it, it seems understood. Or maybe its because I just don't have many of those people in my life anymore. But in case you are rolling your eyes right now and don't understand what I'm talking about: When I say spiritual and not religious, I mean I believe in a higher power but am not caught up in a name. Male, female, or no gender, God, Goddess, the Universe, Source etc, whatever feels right. My beliefs are created from a web of thoughts and religions and at 54 I pretty much have my own Julia version. Sometimes I find new ideas that really click and those get added to the pot too. It suits me. The constraints of religion and the typical subordination of women does not.

-Kaitlin Hardy Shetler

-Painting by Tim Okamura