Vulnerability

I'm thinking today about vulnerability. Is it a requirement of a relationship with someone else? Christ came to the world as a human, and placed himself in a very vulnerable position so that we would come to know the love of God -- to be in a relationship with him.

I've always considered that vulnerability -- the position in which we place ourselves that opens us up to hurt -- is the result of a deeper relationship, not a prerequisite to one, but maybe I've been wrong, or maybe it can work both ways.

I remember about a year ago I shared a personal story with a friend via email. It wasn't a huge vulnerability, but wasn't something I would tell someone walking down the street, either. I saw him that evening at an event, and was almost embarrassed by what I had shared. We're closer friends now than we were then, and I wouldn't think twice about telling him that story now.

Someone else told me a story the other day -- it was a hard thing for him to do, I think, and it was done as a means to affirm me. It was a moment of vulnerability for him, but I wonder if in this situation, it was a sacrificial moment.

Is all of this making sense at all? Christ became vulnerable for us so that we could develop a closer relationship with him. I think of Peter, walking on the water -- an act of trust and vulnerability which he did because he was already in a relationship with Jesus. I also think that vulnerability can be a cross we pick up sacrificially -- as a means of grace.

It's all about trust, isn't it?