What I share with you today began with this picture called The Cave. It is a drawing by David Hayward of a young woman, standing at the entrance to a dark cave. She knows this cave is a part of her very self, and she is arguing with herself about whether to take a look inside.
I have carried this image in my mind since I first saw it last fall. It has made sense of a deep longing I’ve had for the church for many years. To me this picture is a call to acknowledging and embracing all that is hidden in us that we’d prefer to hide or forget. It is a call to mature, and to become all that we can.
Nan Merrill writes in her translation of Psalm 107:
And know yourself! Let your aim be to recognize who you are.
Aspire to live as sons and daughters of Divine Love,
To enshrine the earth with divinity,
To honour all relationships as sacred, and to live in peace and in balance with all living things.
So here is my first question … do you know yourself?
I like this picture … the girl taking a look inside … she’s peeking behind the eye, looking past the exterior. She wants to know who is inside.
Donald Miller, the author of the book Scary Close writes “The reality is people who allow themselves to be known are often even more respected than those who don’t. In the end, we trust and are comforted by those who are brave enough to be known.”
And now a quote from Timothy Keller: “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”
So here is my first mystery for you: to be fully known is the only way we can be fully loved. And this is not just about being known by someone else, but also about knowing ourselves.
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