Vulnerability

This week's Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals is about vulnerability:

1. Is vulnerability something that comes easily to you, or are you a private person? Well, I think I am a private person. That doesn't mean that I don't share vulnerability with particular people, but with most people, I don't. In many ways I am introverted. BUT, I also think that in many ways those who are not close friends or family would be uncomfortable with sharing vulnerability. I do live in West Virginia, where a "How are you?" question will yield a REAL answer, but for the most part, there are very few people in anyone's life who are interested in sharing vulnerability. That's one of the things that makes friends so special.
2. How important is it to keep up a professional persona in work/ ministry? In my old job, where religion and work never mixed, it was very important. In my new job, I am blessed to work in a place where one of the four of us can say, "We need to pray together," and we do. Where I work now, that sharing of faith does not make us less professional. Isn't that a blessing? BUT, it does make it harder to find the line between the times when one should be completely professional, and not share faith, and when one can share faith and it's accompanying vulnerability.
3. Masks, a form of self protection... discuss... Well, absolutely. We all use them. I use them.
4. Who knows you warts and all? My husband. Very close friends. I imagine , though, that no one knows all of our warts, because we fail to acknowledge them ourselves, but there are a few people who probably know me almost as well as I know myself. It's comforting that they seem to like me anyway!
5. Share a book, a prayer, a piece of music, a poem or a person that touches the deep place in your soul, and calls you to be who you are most authentically. I wonder if the question would be better stated (for me) "What calls you to authenticity with power?" Many things suggest it, but I don't always hear it. The Bible calls me to authenticity, especially with God. I have a circle of friends (including my husband); as one of them said, once, "Not only can I tell the truth (to them), but I must."

Image: Sunrise on the high school hill, some time this week.