Artwork by Deborah Oropallo. I chose this picture because it looks like how transparency makes me feel!
So I have been thinking a lot lately about transparency. Namely, transparency in my own life regarding my weaknesses, areas of deficiency, failures… you get the point. I started thinking about this when I realized that, although I have written many posts, only a few are actually visible to the public. While I was reading some my “private” posts a few days ago, for a brief moment I forgot I was the author and thought to myself… wow.. this girl is really “real”. She is not hiding under a facade. Then I realized that… these are MY posts and they are set on “private”.
But what if I had the courage to tell the world what it was REALLY like to be me? What if you did? What would change for you? Would things get better or worse? Would people love you or hate you? Would you know your true friends or would you have any friends left?
As I was growing up, transparency was neither discouraged or encouraged. It just wasn’t talked about. As I have gotten older I understand within my own life and within the community of the church, transparency is of supreme importance. Transparency allows the world to see Christians for what they really are – flawed human beings that are only saved through the blood and grace of Jesus Christ.
I want to be transparent even when it is painful, embarrassing, or inconvenient.
I want others to know me for who I really am. I want people to see into the painful, sad, lonely areas of my life for these things are what make me a complete human. No human alive lives in a constant state of dressed-up Sunday best “hey how are you”, surface, polite-at-all-times mentality. We live in a broken world full of broken people. Without seeing the full extent of our brokenness, we are blinded to the full extent of God’s grace upon our lives.
What is it within us that shirks from transparency? What is it within me that does this? A fear of being rejected? A fear of being less than perfect? A fear of vulnerability? Fear. Fear. Fear.
Perfect love casts out fear.
I don’t want to live in fear.
I want the courage of Christ to fill me with the boldness to shed light into the ugly, foul, stench- soaked crooked crevices of me. Now more than ever I am determined that this sort of bold transparency is fundamental to true community and relational intimacy. Isn’t that what I crave? Isn’t that what all people crave?
