Once Upon a Time, I Lived in a Bubble

Once upon a time, I lived in a bubble. I faced whatever life handed me with confidence--due to a strong family support system and a bit of naivety. I thought my version of the world was everyone else's. Later in life, I discovered that friends and loved ones who I thought were as "secure" as I was had elephants in the living room, on the back steps, and out on their lawns--because shame is not shared. It's there; it exists; but, it is not shared.

As the years passed, I began to seek and understand the bigger pictures of relationship issues, abuse, financial stress, illness, and growing-older dilemmas. Friends and acquaintances, who hid things during their younger years, shared their stories. Was it because desperation set in? Were the repercussions of shame-based behaviors too much to handle alone? Was it because there was no where else to hide and no reason to do so anymore?

It has been said that everyone we meet in life, every experience we have, shape us into the person we become. This includes parents, siblings, spouse, friends, children, and those others we meet for short periods of our lives--some who we have connected with deeply and who leave forever imprints.

Maybe, what I didn't "get" before, I have a chance to get now. I mentioned to my fellow classmate, Lois, (reconnecting at a class reunion) that I felt a need to "make-new" --although I wasn't sure what I even meant. She replied, "I see your make-new as making better relationships from the incomplete scraps of the old ones. Maybe, polishing off the rust".

I like the phrases--incomplete scraps and polishing off the rust... Something incomplete can be completed, made new.

 Is not wisdom found among the aged?  Does not long life bring understanding? Job 12;12

Thank goodness, we have a Creator who understands all this and wants us to be connected. It's all a part of His great plan. It's all a part of being human.



In the same way, even though we are many individuals, Christ makes us one body and individuals who are connected to each other. Romans 12:5

The Word became flesh for the purpose of connecting....