Daring Greatly

So i was watching this show the other morning with my mom.  Actually, she had already watched it and DVRd it to save for me to watch when i came home.  It was the Katie Couric show (Katie Couric has a show now?).  Anyway, Katie had this woman on the show named  Brene Brown.  She is the author of Daring Greatly.  Mom felt i would be interested in this author because she talks alot about what i like to write about in my blog.  Things like authenticity.  Vulnerability. What i loved was that this news that people value vulnerability was just that--news.  It really seemed to be this earth-shattering notion to the audience.  And perhaps it is earth-shattering. 

I've been thinking alot about vulnerability since then. I think that it is one of the things we are most afraid of.  But it IS the thing that draws us closer to one another in relationships.  We value vulnerability in other people, but often not in ourselves.  If we don't open up...if we don't talk about what's going on in our heads with the people around us who love us, what's the point?  I generally connect with people who can open up and tell me something real about their lives.  Something true.  Perhaps something hidden.  Maybe that's a reason i became a counselor--because generally clients come in with open wounds and they feel raw and so....vulnerable.  And i love THAT--not their pain, but the fact that they can open up and tell me about their pain.  It makes me feel honored to be someone that strangers might open up to. Feel safe with. 

With vulnerability there comes the inevitable risk.  If we are seen for who we really are--if we let our guards down just enough to let someone in--then what?  That is the part we're most afraid of--the part that comes after being vulnerable.  What if we aren't accepted?  What if we aren't loved?  Then what?  But.  What if something else happens?  What if--when we are truly seen--we are still loved?  What if we are still accepted? What if it's worth the risk? What if it turns out that i am OK--and how about this--what if i'm more than OK? What if i am enough?

So, friends, i have not mastered this notion of daring greatly.  Not even close. But i'm going to try and dare greatly and just see.  Just in my every day life.  It's always fun to see what God can do when I get out of my own way...when I choose to get out of my comfort zone.  So maybe today i choose to do something different.  And maybe....just maybe....dare greatly to believe that today---I am enough. And that the God of the Universe loves me just as I am.  Despite my fears, flaws...even my doubts.