On the outside looking in
(for B., who feels stuck on the outside)
One of the hardest things in life is being on the outside looking in.
Whether it’s because you’re from the wrong town. Or the wrong country.
Whether it’s because you like the wrong people. Or you are the wrong people.
Whether it’s because you’re not like everyone else. Or you’re just not part of the group.
The specifics aren’t that important. Because whatever it is that puts you on the outside looking in – hits you. And it hits hard.
To get past that, you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone. To take a risk. To let someone actually get to know you. To become vulnerable.
It’s the only way to get past that. To run the risk of someone else’s response. To you.
And all of us know, whether we like to think about it or not, that sometimes that other person’s response to us will only make things worse.
But it can never get better, we can never get past being stuck on the outside looking in, if we don’t take the risk.
Which can lead to a kind of paralysis. A fear of failure if you try. And a fear of failure for not trying. It’s an emotional lose-lose. Where we get stuck.
What if – before you ever tried – you knew how someone else was going to react? And you knew that it was going to be good? What if you knew that you couldn’t lose?
Would you take the risk then?
This is what Jesus is speaking to in today’s Gospel.
That moment of vulnerability. With its risk of paralysis. To let us know in advance how God will react if we make ourselves vulnerable to Him. To let us know that it’s going to be good.
To let us know that when we make ourselves known to God, God sees us as family.
Let’s be clear, this is not something that you and I earn by doing some list of stuff perfectly. God doesn’t hold back His love.
This is something that happens from the moment you take your first stumbling step towards Him, towards Home. God sees you as family.
Because the simple truth is that your first stumbling step towards Him, towards Home?
Is everything that God has been waiting for. Since before you were born. With the very love that brought you into being.
Haven’t you waited long enough? Haven’t you done without long enough?
Come. It’s time to turn our steps towards Home.
dailybridgerton
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
