Permitting Yourself To Be Uncomfortable
I am an introvert. How many of you recognize yourself as being the same? It is hard for me to do some important things that help others because it makes me uncomfortable.
Many of you have seen the powerful movie, The Passion of Christ. What a comfort-shattering experience that is!! The message of that movie calls us to suffer, too.
It insists that we, too, give our lives for others. We are called to leave our comfort zones and dare to get hurt, if necessary, while trying to bring healing to others.
I teach that 'We must die for others', an expression that people often misunderstand. Here is what I mean by it.
Whenever I walk across the room, (introvert that I may be) and welcome a stranger, (as ineptly as I may do it) I am dying for her. And in dying for her, I am resuscitating her, raising her a little, from the dead.
I beg you to take total ownership of every room you sit in, or enter, even though you are uncomfortable doing it. I beg you to take leadership in noticing who is there, and intentionally approaching whoever might possibly be alone, awkward as you may feel inside. I implore you to endeavor (in some faulty, trembling, inarticulate way, if necessary) to include them and bring them IN.
JUST BE THERE!! Though we must think of every human being as ‘the walking wounded’, our task is not to fix them. Fixing is under way when we greet a stranger, or lift the spirits of anyone. You can leave the deliberate fixing to God; it's not our job to FIX. Just Be There!
I like this play on words: ‘Don’t just do something. Stand there.’
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