Naked part 4
To me, the opposite of being ashamed is being bold. Instead of being naked and ashamed (naked and afraid) we need to get to the point where we're naked and bold. And you know I'm not talking about stripping your clothes off and running around like a Jay-bird. I'm talking about being bold in being who we are. I'm talking about not feeling like we NEED to hide anything from anybody. One of my favorite lines from the movie Men In Black is when Will Smith says, "Don't start nothing... won't be nothing." But I feel like we've come to a time and a place where we think we either NEED to start something--attacking, or condemning people at the slightest provocation--or we feel like we need to hide so that nobody CAN start something with us. Neither of those scenarios is ideal. What we need to do is live and let live. Stop trying to make people be who WE think they ought to be, and let people be who they are. Listen: God created you specifically to be you. So if you're hiding who you really are, rather than being honest, and naked, and open, and vulnerable, then you're kind of undoing the work of God. If I can say it that way. You're kind of preventing His good work from being accomplished. We need each other. I need what you bring to the table, and you need what I bring to the table. So if either one of us is not being who we are, then there's going to be something missing. I know it comes from fear. Adam and Eve hid from the presence of God once they "knew" they were naked. They were ashamed. They didn't want to be seen. Even though they were naked the day before that and it didn't bother God one bit. It never bothered God. That's how He made us. That's how He wants us. He wants us to cleave to one another. To have relationship with one another. And that can only come from being honest. From not hiding things, or covering things up. That can only come from being who we are and not pretending to be someone we're not. And isn't that what this life is all about? Love? Relationship? Connection? So if you want to truly live--to experience this everlasting, eternal, abundant, Resurrection Life of Love--you can't do it by being ashamed of yourself. You can't do it by pretending to be someone you're not. You can't do it by trying to fit into someone else's box. That won't work. Ever. You have to be who you are... or YOU'LL be miserable, and you'll make OTHER PEOPLE miserable too. Because I believe we can tell when something is real and when it's not. I believe we crave that real thing so much that even when we "settle" for something less, we never REALLY CAN settle. There's always that pebble in our shoe letting us know that something isn't quite right. And we can ignore that pebble for a while. Keep walking, even if it turns into a limp. But at the end of the day we want something better. Something more. Something real. We want people we can be real with. People we can be ourselves with. Well, you're never going to find those people unless you're loud and proud about who you really are. So don't be ashamed of who you are. Embrace who you are. Is it for everybody? No, probably not. But when you find the people it IS for--when you find your tribe--you'll be able to fit in without covering anything up. You'll be able to ENJOY that connection. That relationship. That love!