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by Atticus Shires Making a conservative, evangelical, Christian college become my home has been quite the ride. I have had to live, li...
Archive for March 2014
Opening the Blinds
I’m looking outside my window. My view is
obstructed by the slats of the blinds—I can glimpse only fragments of grey sky
and back-lit palm trees, the cars and the side of my dorm building. I can’t
see the whole scene. This makes me feel uncomfortable, but I don’t get up to open
the blinds, because I am nicely settled in my chair.
I
feel like we often see people the way I’m seeing the view right now—not
holistically, but full of blank spaces and grey areas, and we settle for that. But why?—Fear? Insecurity? Pride?
We are all brothers and sisters in this
huge dysfunctional family. We are called by our Father to love one another and
I really believe that means to see each
other holistically, with all the
mess and inconvenience that entails. We’re called to embark with one another, for one another, on this journey of reconciliation
and relational healing.
Last semester God gave me a deep yearning
to love on people, to make them feel the warmth and weight of His embrace and
see themselves as intentionally pursued and chosen for that love. I was the
excited Biola freshman who visited each table at the University’s ministry fair,
and eagerly put my name on almost every email list. When I walked over to
NakID’s table, I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised by their openness
and boldness. Questions later, I shared my heart with them: the relevance of
the issue in the world today, my desire to love on hurt people, my need to
understand much better and my wish to be a listener in this arena. They
affirmed my desire and assured me that NakID would be a genuine and safe environment to ask question and engage in healthy discussion, so I embarked.
Spring semester rolled around a month and
a few rainy days ago, and I’ve had a lot of new questions. I’ve been looking
inward a little harder and outward a little more critically. There’s so much I
don’t know, and I’ve been relatively okay with that for most of my life, but recently there has been a shift in my soul
and I’m wrestling with questions.
In thinking about this piece and beginning to write, I keep coming back to two
main questions: How active of a role
should we play in the mission of reconciliation and relational healing in the
lives of those around us? And, does
everyone have to care about hurting people? (And the underlying question, does
everyone have to care about those in the LGBTQ community that NakID seeks to
provide a safe space for?)
I feel heaviness in my soul as I ask these questions. I look around me at other students—thriving, laughing, or just trying to survive—and I wonder, do they need to open their eyes and hearts to this conversation? Do they actually need to reach out or is that just me projecting my calling onto them?
We do not simply live in our own little
worlds but are members of society. The way we treat those around us, and whether we choose to see
them holistically or not affects the whole community.
I think we all should be asking, "How
can I be a part of making this a place where people feel safe to ask questions
and safe to be themselves as they
participate in community?”
So let’s not gloss over our wounds. Though we are not solely
shaped by our heartache or margins, we cannot truly know someone or truly love
humans well until we are willing to acknowledge every part of who they are, as
we pray for them, see them, and love them. For us, that means cultivating a
spirit of understanding and vulnerability by creating a safe space to ask
questions and be loved holistically.
Loving people has a domino effect—when you love someone well they are able to love others well in turn. I dare you to embark on a journey to love
relentlessly, with a love that is bold and full of expectation.
Tag :
Brook Rulison
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