In a Sea of Faces

I love mentoring.  Fortunately, in my job I occasionally have the opportunity to pour into the life of another.  I am currently meeting with a student, and we have been working through "Blue Like Jazz."  It's a wonderful introductory work into the basics of the Christian faith.  Donald Miller writes in a friendly, coffee shop prose that most can easily grasp; perfect for a high school youth.

This past week we were working through the chapter entitled "Alone."  We chatted about the need for community, the difficulty of allowing others into our lives, and the fear of betrayal.  All valid concerns.  As we talked, I began to reflect on an earlier journal entry concerning loneliness that I wrote while visiting a friend.  My friend and I were talking on a more personal level, and as I lay awake late into that night these thoughts circled in my mind.  The next morning they were easily transferred to the paper of my journal.  I post the entry for your consideration, complete with a short poem that I wrote at that time as well.

Kaleidoscope Entry - 3/1/2008

What does it mean to be known and be loved?  

It has been said that our deepest human desire is to know and be known.  And yet we fear being known.  

To be open is pain.  We learn this lesson at an early age.

Enter the masks.  Enter the fronts.  Enter the walls and defense mechanisms.

It will require effort to remove masks.  Time will be needed to breach walls.  One identity buried under the rubble of a lifetime.

But the reward for the persistence!  The healing can now begin.  Kingdom can enter.  Christ can fully reign.

pricks and barbs

arrows and stones

the fierce desire

to be left alone.

desperately desiring

to be seen from within

secretly dreading

judgement for hidden sin.

to be LOVED

to be KNOWN

to be CHERISHED

to be OWNED

walls come down

defenses must crumble

souls will shake

hearts will rumble.

naked and stripped

vulnerable and empty

now we can enter

into the land of plenty.

naked I enter

naked I depart

naked the beginning

naked the start.