Coffee Talk with Christie

The topic of my blog today is "Openness".

Over the past several months I have tried to understand my feelings of being desperate for transparency.

You know that vulnerable feeling you get when you allow yourself to become completely open with others - leaving nothing behind the dark curtain of your soul? It's an awkward feeling. It's uncomfortable. It's scary, and yet, I LONG for it. I feel drawn toward it. Sounds a little strange.

Then I begin to ask myself, when others see who I really am will their perception of me change? Will I lose the respect of those closest to me? Will I be talked about as lacking spiritually in some way? These questions flood my mind as I press on toward becoming what God wants me to be... OPEN. TRANSPARENT.

It is NOT the opinion of people that should drive this decision for me, this I know.

Galatians 1:10 says, "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

The word, "pleased" in this text is described as: "accommodating one's self to the opinions desires and interests of others".

I was reminded yesterday at church that God really wants us to STOP WORRYING about what others think of us - it's not about the opinions of others, it's about God's opinion of us. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters.