pomegranateandivy-deactivated20:

You don’t know. 

If there was a way to prove that something was a sign beyond any shadow of a doubt, then people wouldn’t fight over if deities were real or how to worship or what They want. People will tell you that the gut feeling, the sun shining through leaves, the way music makes you feel–that’s how you know, but the fact of the matter is that isn’t proof. You may choose to accept something as a truth, that’s part of what faith is, it’s believing when there isn’t empirical data. And that’s enough for some people, but not for everyone. A liberating realization for me, one that helped me deal with the guilt inherent in times of doubt, was the realization that those feelings aren’t proof–and the lack of those feelings isn’t proof of the opposite.

There is no one way to tell if something is a sign. I’m a strong believer that signs are designed so that the person intended to receive them will understand them when they’re meant to. A crow in the tree by my house may mean nothing to me–I see crows every day. It may mean everything to you though. In the end, I think that what matters more than if we can prove something is a sign, is if we gain something from it emotionally, or spiritually. 

What we choose to do with signs (real or perceived) is up to us in the end. Some people will receive signs and ignore them. Some people go their whole lives looking for signs and ignoring ones that may be right in front of them because it doesn’t look how they expect it to. Some people find signs in everything. Some people rely on signs to decide their faith or their life. There is no wrong answer for what to do with a sign. Believe it, act on it, deny it, reject it– there isn’t a guide on what to do with signs.

Some people feel like they’re called or chosen by a deity, but most of us choose our own faith. Most of us decide to worship. Some people look back on that decision and say that in hindsight they were drawn by something greater then themselves.But again, there is no One Way to come into your faith. If we all waited until we were sure we had been chosen, then a great number of us wouldn’t be where we are in our faiths now. I know I wouldn’t.