Look closely.
"Find a mirror. Look at yourself. You've done it a millions times; when you get dressed and do your hair but do you ever look closely? Just stare for a moment. Can you appreciate what you are seeing? Can you understand it, the circumstances and all unlikely probabilities that are putting you on this spot in this moment? Now look into your eyes... see it? No? Look closer... beyond the dilated pupil stretching to catch the light, beyond the strands of color in your iris. As you're vision penetrates itself you will see your own reflection. Like a hall of mirrors you see the reflection for as far as the light can reach... but look closer... don't strain because it won't help. Do you see it now? Far beyond what your vision can comprehend there is your soul. No matter who you are it holds its own beauty and majesty. Now can you appreciate this moment, seeing yourself as you rarely have seen before? You are now naked before yourself. Now imagine letting someone else look at you this way. Have you done it? Or will you ever? The most likely answer is 'no' but if you truly want to know someone and let them know you, this is the way. Letting someone see you bare to the world through the depths of your eyes is a sign of complete trust and (more importantly) unconditional love. Look into their eyes when you say 'I love you' because then you can see it too."
So I borrowed this post from a good friend of mine. Cool huh? I put together a few thoughts after reading...
This is an interesting thing. I've read several books and heard several sermons on this kind of stuff, but you put it together so eloquently. I had a (do I say friend? He went to my church and was close to my parents and is in his 60s) who used to challenge me to "stand naked in the sunshine". It is so hard for me to do. There are select few people (you included) that I am able to really uncensor myself to. For me, not thinking about what I am saying, how it will come across, or how it makes me look, is a very big deal. I can speak as it comes to me and that is my way of letting people see me. I can have my ADD moments, my digressions, my deep thoughts, introspections, retrospections, my jokes, all of that is me. There are people who just see one or two of those things and they are getting a touched up picture. We all have those days where even we are afraid of the actual picture but it is such a rarity for someone else to either see that picture or see it and find it beautiful.
How often do you look in the mirror and awknowledge how great you are? Not just say it, but truly feel it and love it? We all have faults and things we dislike about ourselves, but how often do we embrace them as part of who we were made to be? I don't think there is anything wrong with pursuing imporvement, it's biblical as a matter of fact. My issue is what does it mean to be imprefectly perfect. I have been learning this lately. There are things about myself that I have come to realize are part of what make me who I am. I'm not sure if I should like, but I know I need to accept them and compensate.
I have so much to say about this and have decided I need to think some more before I write, but here is my start...
So I borrowed this post from a good friend of mine. Cool huh? I put together a few thoughts after reading...
This is an interesting thing. I've read several books and heard several sermons on this kind of stuff, but you put it together so eloquently. I had a (do I say friend? He went to my church and was close to my parents and is in his 60s) who used to challenge me to "stand naked in the sunshine". It is so hard for me to do. There are select few people (you included) that I am able to really uncensor myself to. For me, not thinking about what I am saying, how it will come across, or how it makes me look, is a very big deal. I can speak as it comes to me and that is my way of letting people see me. I can have my ADD moments, my digressions, my deep thoughts, introspections, retrospections, my jokes, all of that is me. There are people who just see one or two of those things and they are getting a touched up picture. We all have those days where even we are afraid of the actual picture but it is such a rarity for someone else to either see that picture or see it and find it beautiful.
How often do you look in the mirror and awknowledge how great you are? Not just say it, but truly feel it and love it? We all have faults and things we dislike about ourselves, but how often do we embrace them as part of who we were made to be? I don't think there is anything wrong with pursuing imporvement, it's biblical as a matter of fact. My issue is what does it mean to be imprefectly perfect. I have been learning this lately. There are things about myself that I have come to realize are part of what make me who I am. I'm not sure if I should like, but I know I need to accept them and compensate.
I have so much to say about this and have decided I need to think some more before I write, but here is my start...