What's your religion?

Not the kind of question you expect to get in a secular newsletter. Right?

This is one of my favorite questions to ponder as I navigate the day to day, and often scary politics and behaviors of our country. And, regardless of whatever party you endorse, or religion you profess, there is only one thing that determines what your religion really is.

Your behaviors. Your actions.

That’s your religion. 

Much of my work is consulting and helping companies and teams with their cultures. Everyone wants to talk about their “culture” and tell you what their culture is. They talk about their mission and values. But that is not your culture. That is your vision of your culture.

So what is your real culture?

It’s the behaviors and actions of your team, employees, and people. Behaviors and actions are the representation of your culture.

Similarly, when it comes to “your religion,” it’s not what you hear in your weekly service, or even what you read in your sacred texts, it’s what you do. It’s how you show up consistently. It’s how you behave and treat others. It’s your actions. 

My good friend, and fellow coach and speaker, Matt Miller, has a great response to “What is your religion?” I think of it often. As things get complicated, complex, and often frustrating – and when I witness what is going on in the world, I easily get discouraged and overwhelmed. Matt’s religion is simple, “I love the person in front of me.”

Love the person in front of me. Wow. So simple. And yet, often so hard. But I can do that. 

Instead of getting frustrated with the hold-up in the airport, I can love the person in front of me. Instead of getting mad at my loud neighbors, I can love the person(s) in front of me. Instead of seething at the figure on the news, I can love the person in front of me.

What happens is, by loving the person in front of me it changes my behavior. I soften. I give grace. I smile. I express kindness. I forgive. Believing in a faith that is supposed to “love my neighbor,” while behaving with contempt, intolerance, cruelty, and force, is the opposite of what I strive to profess. 

If that’s the case, what then is your religion?

It’s how you treat everyone you come into contact with today. It’s how you speak to your family, the teller, the guy on the highway who cuts you off, and the protestor on the side of the road who disagrees with your politics. 

That is your religion. 

Today, inspired by my friend Matt, I am choosing to love.

What will you choose?

-Travis