Opening Up //

We all have weakness, vulnerabilities, tender places and we like to keep them close and secret and protected. Walls up. Armor on. Smiles wide. We know the risk that is run if we confide, share, ask for help. Ouch. Every one of us has had brokenness. We aren't meant to stay broken + we aren't meant to travel through it alone. Christ's Body -- little healers, comforters, burden-carriers, lovers -- held fast in Love Himself, freed from ourselves to see others, are compelled to reach out, kneel down, put a hand around a shoulder and weep beside, journey with tirelessly and rejoice together in the time of freedom + wholeness + joy. We can't fix a single soul but we know Someone who can and while He's doing His work inside we get to do this work outside.

Going about my days, moving forward, healing, I've been so moved by the Body's care in my life. They don't always know what to say, sometimes they talk when silence is needed, sometimes the truth rings true but stings like peroxide in the wound, they've affirmed and confirmed and not always with word, sometimes a hand on my back or an arm wrapped around is more than enough. They haven't smothered me, shoved healing down my throat or dragged me forward, they've trusted me to the Shepherd to lead in due course and they've always been there when I reached out, when I asked for help, when I needed a shoulder to lean on. Opening up is a risk, but opening up to people lovers, in my own experience, has proved to be a little bit of mess, a lot of grace, and way more blessing than I ever imagined. In short, its worth it. And I am awfully glad I don't have to be alone in this life where trouble is promised.

Can we make sure that the people who are currently alone in their hurt come to know that they don't have to be much longer with us around? There are a lot of people with unshared stories, hidden hurts and thick walls around us. They're holding signs on the street corner, they're singing next to us in church, they live next door in suburbia, they sleep in the room down the hall, they bag your groceries, honk at you in traffic, answer your customer service calls, and go to your school. Some of them do not have anyone to trust with their fragility. If they did, they would be fully aware of the risk involved though... We will look like a risk to people, and we should know that, but lets make sure that they see that we are consistently worth it. Here's to being known by love!