God and I have been talking a lot about sharing. A friend at group the other day "triggered" this post. We were going through the questions on the dvd and we all shared. I had one of them ask me after why I don’t share a lot. I responded by saying that my experiences of sharing in the past have not been very pleasant. And I come from a very different background and upbringing that most of my stories people have seen only in movies. And I don’t want to trivialize or have them misconstrued. So, I have learned that the only people I can share are the ones who truly respect who I am and are culturally open minded.
For example, if I were to share a story about my childhood. A story that goes like, a bad man wanted to hurt me, but when I told him my father's name he let me go. People who don’t understand the culture and how it works would respond something like this: “Did you hear?! She was raped, she is just not telling us and that’s why she doesn’t open up and from that a child was conceived. She didn’t tell anyone, so her parents send the child to Switzerland and the nuns in the Alps are raising the boy. Poor thing!”
Now, that didn't happen and no one speculated that, but do you see the craziness!? The sad thing is that I have seen many situations in my life and others as well of how assumptions can be very dangerous. It prevents the very thing that we want people to do. To share. And as a result, it prevents connecting. It prevents us to create a safety net if you will, a safe place for them to be known. I have realized that people just want to be known. They want their life witnessed. After they're gone,they want someone to say they were "here". They don’t want to be “weirdo’s”, or “strange”, or “mysterious”. Sorry for labeling. No but really, it’s that simple.
So, I am grateful for my life group and mozaic community. For the safety and acceptance it provides. I am grateful that we look past our “points of reference” and are able to relate with one another. But what I like the most is that we don’t pity each other! We just LOVE! We want to experience God together through the experiences that He prepared for us in advance. So, my prayer for us today is that instead of filling in the blanks we'd ask questions, instead of assuming we'd search for new levels of understanding, instead of "talking" we would pray each other into a safe harbor.
Love you all deeply!
