today there is hurt.

sometimes the greatest risk we have to take is simply claiming what is already ours, acknowledging what is true regardless of the unknown implications, past, present, or future.

Imagine what our lives would be like if we actually lived in the fullness of reality and trusted that we have a good Father who is bigger than all of it...


"Attachments occur when we take the risk to allow someone else to matter enough to us to hurt us if they choose to."

Attachment, or boundedness, is our deepest need. This is because it is also the deepest part of the character of God.

The Bible goes so far as to identify the very nature of God with love: 'God is Love' (1 John 4:8). Love, which comprises the deepest part of who God is, determines what he does: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son.'

God is pro-relationship and anti-isolation.

The existence of emotional attachments in our lives is not an option; it is not a luxury. It is a spiritual and emotional necessity. We are designed for it...."

this is the shame of the woman whose hand hides
her smile because her teeth are so bad, not the grand
self-hate that leads some to razors or pills
or swan dives off beautiful bridges however
tragic that is. this is the shame of seeing yourself,
of being ashamed of where you live and what
your father's paycheck lets you eat and wear.
This is the shame of the fat and the bald,
the unbearable blush of acne, the shame of having
no lunch money and pretending you're not hungry.
This is the shame of concealed sickness-- diseases
too expensive to afford that offer only their cold
one-way ticket out. This is the shame of being ashamed,
the self-disgust of the cheap wine drunk, the lassitude
that makes junk accumulate, the shame that tells
you there is another way to live but you are
too dumb to find it. This is the real shame, the damned
shame, the crying shame, the shame that's criminal,
the shame of knowing words like glory are not
in your vocabulary though they litter the Bibles
you're still paying for. This is the shame of not
knowing how to read and pretending you do.
This is the shame that makes you afraid to leave your house,
the shame of food stamps at the supermarket when
the clerk shows impatience as you fumble with the change.
This is the shame of dirty underwear, the shame
of pretending your father works in an office
as God intended all men to do. This is the shame
of asking friends to let you off in front of the one
nice house in the neighborhood and waiting
in the shadows until they drive away before walking
to the gloom of your house. this is the shame
at the end of the mania for owning things, the shame
of no heat in winter; the shame of eating cat food,
the unholy shame of dreaming of a new house and car
and the shame of knowing how cheap such dreams are.

-- Vern Rutsala

"We heal through our connections to others... 'If we observe women's lives carefully, without attempting to force our observations into preexisting patterns, we discover that an inner sense of connection to others is the central ongoing feature of women's development. By listening to the stories women tell about their lives and examining those stories seriously, we have found that... women's sense of self and worth is most often grounded in the ability to make and maintain relationships...

... There are certainly real differences that separate us all in many ways, but in the end, we are more alike than we are different. We all need to feel valued, accepted, and affirmed. When we feel worthless, rejected and unworthy of belonging, we feel shame: One of the most important benefits of reaching out to others is learning that the experiences that make us feel the most alone are actually universal experiences.

Regardless of who we are, how we were raised or what we believe, all of us fight hidden, silent battles against not being good enough, not having enough and not belonging enough. When we find the courage to share our experiences and the compassion to hear others tell their stories, we force shame out of hiding and end the silence."

-- Brene Brown, "I Thought it was Just Me (but it isn't)"
p 127


"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.. You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5

Apparently Par Core isn't just a word he got mixed up...

Dream World from Frank Sauer on Vimeo.

shout!

alex | shout from timb on Vimeo.