Since my posting
about the seed breaking open, after giving the sermon, I have received some
thoughtful feedback from folks about perhaps being too hard on myself. One
cannot be completely transparent all the time, after all. And then there is the
risk of becoming what my friend Jonathan calls “compulsively self-revealing.”
What does it REALLY
mean to live an undivided life? Might we even be able to delight in the tension
between what is hidden and what is revealed?
I keep going back
to Parker Palmer’s words:
“There is no punishment anyone could lay on
me that would be worse than the punishment I lay on myself by conspiring with
my own diminishment.”
Was I conspiring
with my own diminishment by holding myself to a ridiculous standard of
transparency? Perhaps. But in the spirit of authenticity, and in living out my
commitment to that spirit, it takes a certain level of attentiveness, if not
vigilance, to resist the impulse to hide ourselves when it is not necessary.
We reveal our true
selves on many levels, not just in personal self-disclosure, but also how we
listen, the words we choose, how we welcome one another—so many ways we touch one another deeper
than words.
So I am grateful
for those who heard the sermon, or who read my blog posting, and let me know
you felt me there with all of who I am. I can’t wait to return the favor.