How to Be Transparent With Your Feelings
Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:
share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.
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Today, I have 5 points to share.
1. I went to Mass with only Mercedes (our 5-yr-old daughter) again last week, because we’re still going to divide and conquer for a while. The word that stood out was “light.” (It was from the blessing of the candles at the start of Mass. Never knew about that tradition until last week.)
2. I felt the Lord was asking me to be transparent about my feelings as they occurred last week. To let His light shine on my emotions, and to bring that truth into the light. Sometimes (lots of times) I prefer to process my emotions first and only then to share from a place of intellectual observation.
3. The lesson is: it’s okay to be honest right now—with myself, with loved ones, with God—even if I don’t have everything figured out.
4. We saw the Virgin Mary really exemplify this lesson in last week’s gospel. When she and Joseph finally found Jesus in the temple, she expressed her sorrow and perhaps exasperation. The emotions she expressed sounded fresh and “unprocessed.” Although she still “kept all these things in her heart,” she shows me what an authentic and unfiltered interaction with Jesus can look like.
5. I’m sharing this at the end of a long tour day. I feel like I could’ve spent more time writing and perfecting this edition of Word for the Week. But maybe that’s the point, for me and for you who happen to be reading this. Maybe we can learn to be transparent from just sharing our hearts even when they’re messy. Maybe honesty sometimes means just stepping out into the light, ready or not!
Thanks for reading along. Hugs and prayers,
Amanda
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