Few things in life are as scary as letting another person look deep inside of us - letting them see who we really are. I got thinking about this as I read Philip Gulley's wonderful book Home to Harmony. He wrote, "The bench still sits in front of the Rexall. Sometimes I eat my lunch there and wonder about the passing people - where they've been and where they're headed. I thought I knew them, but now that I'm their pastor it occurs to me that I don't know them at all. Perhaps I never did. Never knew their desolations, their pinings, their hunger for grace in a grace-starved world. The only things I know of them are the things they want me to know."
How much of my true self do I let others see - even those who are completely trustworthy because they love me? I am loved by my wife, my mom, my pastor, and others. If I am honest (and it's not easy to be), I think I'd have to say only my wife gets close to 100% honesty from me. My mom knows me pretty thoroughly because, well, because she's my mom and moms are like that. And I let my pastor see most of me because of our history together. We have been through a lot and I love him and treasure him for it.
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