Carving Out Faith

As a child, I believed in God. I said prayers at bedtime and attended church on Sundays. I studied religion at a Catholic school. I even talked to God like a trusted friend. In fact, I remember one “Mischief Night,” the night before Halloween, a group of teenagers smashed the jack-o’-lantern my father had carved and placed on our front porch. In my young mind, the jack-o’-lantern had been round and perfect. When I discovered that it had been vandalized, I was devastated. That evening, when I said my evening prayers with my mother, I asked God to replace the smashed pumpkin.