Guidelines

Sometimes beliefs that we held in our youth

Lose the certainty we once regarded as truth,

Then we have to decide what to keep, what to shed,

What still fits us or what is beginning to shred.

Simply clinging to all that we learned in the past,

Even though, at the time, we believed it would last,

Doesn’t factor in various ways we have changed

And the lessons from which we have gotten estranged.

Therefore, no one should judge if we pray or we don’t;

Some traditions we’ll honor but others we won’t.

All that matters is that we’ve no reason to hide

If we follow the guidelines we harbor inside.