Thursday, May 27, 2010

Becoming Naked

I make myself small, try to blend in, become one of the shadows. I am drowning in loneliness and hoping to be found…afraid to be found. Knowing too well what people will truly find.

Being naked is hard.

It is easier to hide.

In hiding, I can pick and choose what is seen. Camouflage the unbeautiful spots.

The ugliness of my stretch marks made when my skin grew thin from conceiving and growing life don’t show. I can point to the fruit, and no one sees the pain or the imperfections exposed during the process of life bringing.

A well placed cover hides where my skin does not fit me well. The too tight places where I over extend and perform perfectly take the focus from the sagging parts where I don’t fit into my skin quite right.

Scrapes, bruises, and wounds fade into shadows of the appearance of light and depth.

Perhaps in the hiding, glimpses of truth come forth, but if I keep moving, they quickly return to the shadows and anyone who has seen is unsure of exactly what they saw.

Yes, being naked is hard.

It is easier to hide.

But I hear Him--calling me, seeking me, desiring me.

I stand statue still. What if He sees me? But He has seen me.

Yesterday.

Before I saw me.

Before I knew my imperfections, my ugly spots. Before I became ashamed of what there is to see.

Yesterday, He saw everything, and He did not turn away. He did not snicker. He did not offer suggestions to make that trouble area better. He simply walked with me, spoke with me, shared His heart and let me share mine…

Yesterday. When I was naked.

And unashamed.

Because I did not know what I had to be ashamed of, only that He enjoyed me…that He wanted me.

Yesterday He walked with me, openly. Today I am hiding…But He calls…

I answer. “I am ashamed.”

He replies. “I never told you to be.”

I swallow hard. My heart races. Do I have the courage to be found?

I step from the camouflage where I have tried to be lost, where I have tried to blend in and not be seen.

He is waiting.

I am naked. More naked than I’ve ever been.

His love is unchanged. He has seen me naked all along, and He covers me.

Genesis 2:25, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

3 comments:

Jan Parrish said...

Deeply moving.

Bethany said...

Jerri, thank you for sharing this beautifully worded piece. It is so hard to be authentic, but thank you God for accepting me for me, and every single person you created is worthy of acceptance.

Anonymous said...

Jan, thank you very much, dear friend.

Bethany, "every single person you created is worthy of acceptance"...I'm taking this into my day with me. Beautiful truth there. Thank you for these words speaking His heart. Bless you!

Relevant

">

Red Light Rescue

Imagine being a parent barely able to pay bills and someone comes to your home and promises to educate your daughter and find her a job. You agree, hoping to give her a better life. Then she disappears, and you find out she is not being educated. Instead, she is a prostitute, a victim of human-trafficking, beaten and abused daily. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn't it? For 100,000 girls in India, this is reality. To find out how you can help, please visit Red Light Rescue.



Quotables

"It's not the wind in our hair that makes us free. It's the movement of the Spirit, the growth of our invisible side." --Amber Haines

Great Things I've Read Lately

Search This Blog