A friend posted a TED talk about being vulnerable in order to connect to and love others, and I thought it would be a lovely place to start for a post today. The daily readings today seem rather solemn and focused on following God's laws and being obedient to His will. Simultaneously, of course, Jesus firmly and hopefully calls us to love one another, enemy and friend alike. I think that in conjunction with the aforementioned TED talk, then, a wonderful message of vulnerability emerges.
I have long struggled to do all that accept-oneself-as-being-imperfect thing, and never has that been more clear than during my first year of teaching. I loved hearing that people need to open up and be vulnerable, put oneself out there, and be gentle with oneself in order to feel worthy of, and as a result find, love. It's a message that takes many shapes and many forms, but today's gospel was somehow refreshingly enlightening. I thought about what exactly an enemy could mean (and the Georgetown daily Lenten reflection also considers how an enemy can be someone that one hates or merely is annoyed with). Could not the greatest enemy of all- brace yourself for a cliche- be oneself? What if we really showed gentle compassion for ourselves? Would not that prepare us to do the same for others? If I could really look in the mirror and say, "It's okay that today was not the best lesson you have planned yet, and that you mishandled several conversations, and that you didn't make any progress on your to-do list, and that you are selfishly tired and frustrated," I think that I would be better able to help my students handle their hiccups and mistakes as well.
Plus, it sounds exhausting to be one's own enemy. I feel like stress and fear and insecurity eat away at me, and I love the idea of being liberated from it all--even if the "cost" is being vulnerable.
Open me up to acceptance of myself and others, with compassion, grace, and love that mirrors Your own, Lord.
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