More than the Echoes of Our Own Thoughts

"No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."  

Eph. 4:14-16

So we need people who are good mirrors in our lives - we need to be seen.  But what if sometimes people see more than we expected them to?  What if they see things in our lives - poor choices, struggles, brokenness - that we didn't even realize were there?  The idea of that may feel embarrassing, even scary.  But if the person truly cares about us and wants the best for us, could what they notice and reflect back to us, telling "the whole truth... in love," actually be a gift?  Could it help us push past our own limited understanding into more health, more freedom?

As Pearl S. Buck put it, "The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. [The] heart withers if it does not answer another heart. [The] mind shrinks away if [it] hears only the echoes of [its] own thoughts and finds no other inspiration."

Talk with God about whether there's a place in your life where you have been feeling stuck - where you just don't understand what's going on in your own head and heart. Who could you invite into that struggle to listen and speak truth into your life?