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Please listen to this entire presentation. I sat in stunned awe – and will be listening over and over – and sharing it with lots of people. http://dandelionmama.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/this-this-is-what-i-believe/ Another way – let ourselves be seen deeply (be authentic!), love with our whole hearts, practice gratitute and learn joy, know I am enough. I loved this one.
Thanks for posting this Ray. There was so much truth there, some of it painful, some of it pleasant, all of it healing. We build walls to protect ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone… I’ve watched this play out so many times in people’s lives (my own included).
This has such wide applicability in our relationship with the church and church community. There is a palpable fear of being vulnerable and imperfect in our culture. I can’t tell you how many times someone has opened up to me in private about burdens they are bearing or have borne alone because they fear being judged and found unworthy of love and connection (to God and members of their community).
We who know that perfectionism and her sister vice, unrighteous judgment, are counterproductive to creating a community of grace (where the great equalizer is supposed to be our universal dependence on Christ for salvation) can make a difference simply by incessantly and genuinely loving others who are cast out, and treated as unclean. We change the culture of the church just as Christ did, by touching lepers, sitting with publicans and sinners, taking the hand of the harlot, and demonstrating by who we are, the worth of every soul. We make our church culture a safe place to be vulnerable so that we are all free to experience everything from doubt and exquisite pain to peace and exquisite joy.
As a recovering perfectionist and formerly unrighteous judge, I know that it was the actions of those who made themselves vulnerable that allowed me to lay down my gavel and make myself vulnerable enough to experience joy and peace.
Thank you for getting this to us Ray! I am going to share this with my family and friends. It is very profound!
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