Last week, Stacey shared some of her story on learning how to receive love. She continues to hack away at the seemingly impenetrable walls in her life; as she continues to prepare for her trip. And since, by no means do we get there over night, Stacey provides an update on this part of her pre-race journey, here…
Went to visit my little sister this week in DC. And in the process managed to get myself snowed in for the better part of a week. It was actually a welcome respite to be forced to be still. The whole world stopped moving, just for those few precious days.
I spent my time curled up on the couch reading books and laughing and just being in community with family.
Then it struck me that I couldn’t remember the last time that I had done that. Just loved on someone and get loved in return, with no schedule, no agenda, no plan or obligation.
In a world where people are constantly seeking new ways to be connected to one another, I found it quite startling that all of these technologies do not even begin to replicate the depth and meaning of being with people you love, face to face. With all the cell phones, land phones, emails, text messages, fax machines, facebook, myspace, iChat, video chat, twitter and all manner of ways that the world is connecting, we should practically be merged into one large consciousness by now, right? But how much of the energy that we put into these mediums actually brings out genuine and healthy fruit? Strikingly little. Now, I’m not advocating the end of these things at all, they are definitely incredibly useful, but they just fail so gloriously to an actual conversation spoken to an actual person over an actual meal.
So I spent the weekend practicing how to be loved. It is a skill that I do not possess without significant struggle, and is something that I have to work at diligently. Cheerleading myself on, “you are worthy, you are loved, you are wanted, you are holy.”
And at the end of the weekend, I realized that I had taken a few bricks down off the wall somehow. And I started to see the Light of God start peeking into my Heart again. And it was good.
So I urge you. Go, make a date with someone you haven’t seen in a while. Sit down. Talk. Don’t plan for anything after. Give yourself some time to talk. Just see where it takes you.
