it is scary...terrifying actually. but allowing ourselves to be known by those we love and trust is one of the most beautiful experiences. i have slowly been learning how to open myself up to people in my life, but that process was kicked into high gear this week. we were forced to share our testimonies to a room full of 31 people for class. i was upset. and scared. and nervous. i had half a mind to pretend i had mad cow disease, so i didn't have to talk about my life. but alas, i went to class. and i shared. not even just the surface level stuff, my dear friends, i shared my real story. and as i was sharing i realized how worth it it was to open myself up to these people who had developed into family over the past month.
allow people to know you this year, dear ones.
“What we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are . . . because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing. It is important to tell our secrets too because it makes it easier . . . for other people to tell us a secret or two of their own . . . ” From Frederick Buechner's Telling Secrets
