“Transparency”

To really know someone is sheer intimacy. Communication brings the knowing. When someone closes him or herself off, they are protecting something...defense mode is on. It's difficult to become close and to love properly when we do this. I'm not suggesting that we totally disrobe our emotions and thoughts, only fools do that What I am suggesting is that we consider being a little more honest and transparent with people. It might not even take a lot of words, but allowing ourselves to become a little more vulnerable, is the only way to Agape love others.

People need to see us willing to risk hurt or reputation in order to reach out to them in their hurting or loneliness. It's extremely hard for certain people to do, and some others need to through a cover up on their soul a little more...but I think those people are less common that the soul shut ins are. Even I, a Type A extrovert, has become more opaque, the older I get. I really don't want to be like that. It's really not natural for me, so feels a little straining at times...yet feels necessary.

Finding that balance is an art. Knowing that it's a love that reaches out to others, unconcerned about my own “safety” helps me relax and allow people to see through any false or tough exterior that might refuse to bloom.

With Spring revealing her own soft, fragile beauty, lets try...one petal at a time... to do the same and refrain from false images and live authentic, honest, vulnerable and free lives, trusting The One who did the same for us.