Hiding in plain sight...

In order to be fully loved and fully functioning, we have to be fully known. 

-Dr. John Townsend

I've always been good at hiding. As an introvert, hide and go seek was my favorite game for many reasons, but mostly because I was so good at hiding that I was almost never found, and I could then relish in the quiet and comfort of not being seen. As an adult, we all play this game too. We seek relationships, empathy, connection, comfort, or validation and yet we simultaneously hide from exposure. We want friends, but we don't want them to see THAT struggle, we want connection but we don't want to reciprocate vulnerability and share what we've been walking through. We want validation of our successes but we'd rather no one to see our failures. 

We're fickle creatures. All of us, if we're honest are afraid to be exposed, afraid to show the weaker parts of ourselves and it reminds me though of an old Shane and Shane song.....

The father of lies

Coming to steal
Kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can't abide
He's right
Alleluia he's right!


The devil is preaching
The song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation


Could the father of lies
Be telling the truthOf God to me tonight?
If the penalty of sin is death
Then death is mine

I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can't abide
He's right
Alleluia he's right!


Oh the devil's singing over me
An age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me
He's forgotten the refrain
Jesus saves!

Recent leadership research has determined that despite assumptions, people would rather follow a vulnerable leader, than a seemingly perfect one, because we are wired for connection, and for connection we HAVE to be able to relate to the person in front of us. We don't lose credibility when we risk the chance to be known, we actually gain it! The apostle Paul knew this as he often referred to himself as "the chief among sinners" and exclaimed proudly that he would "boast in his weaknesses." 

Someone today needs to hear that despite the accusations being hurled, you are not your mistakes, sins, or missteps. And safe people exist who will love you despite your weaknesses, and maybe even because of them, and the price you'll pay to be only half known, even if it gains you the world, is not worth losing your soul, who was meant to be FULLY known and FULLY loved. 

2 Cor 12:9 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.