Vulnerability or Authenticity?

This year, I spent Thanksgiving with my family at the beach, like I do every year. On our way home this morning, my dad insisted that we listen to Dr. Rene Brown talk about her study on vulnerability in culture. She talked about how being vulnerable is not really acceptable in our culture. In relationships, people say, "Tell me you're afraid, tell me where you fail, when you've fallen," but she claims that really, the truth is nauseating and a lot of people can't stomach the reality of vulnerability. Well, all I could think of the whole time I was listening to this woman speak was about one night on mission trip to New Mexico and how a lot of us spilled our guts concerning what we were afraid about or upset over regarding the upcoming year. For example, I talked about how bad I am at surrendering to God, and how I was going to have to surrender my big sister to Him when she left for college. That was incredibly difficult for me, but despite talking about all my faults, it felt good, and my friends weren't nauseated by my vulnerability. I was being authentic. Authenticity with others is a big deal for Christians. I just remembered that authenticity that night, and I couldn't have wished for a better group to be authentic with. It was just a good reminder to be thankful for my youth group and for my entire church.

Thankfulness and Church Family

What kinds of things are you thankful for? Are you thankful for the shoes on your feet? The clothes on your back? That school you attend every day? Are you thankful for that food you eat? You should be. God has blessed us all with so much.
One thing I'm especially grateful for is my friendships. I have some of the best friends ever. I can trust them not to tell everyone all the things I tell them, and I know that they won't judge me for my foolish actions, past or future. Or present ones for that matter, but whatever. I really hope that they know the same thing about me. I won't judge them for idiocies. I'll tell them, especially if it's a present idiotic action, but I won't judge them for it. I've found that almost all my favorite activities consist of doing things with people. I love going to eat Chinese food with my youth group on Wednesday nights. I love singing in my school's choir with the other students, I love going to Model UN where I get to meet new people. It's important that we stay connected with other people. My church family is one of the most special of all my connections. My church family is so important to me. They hold me accountable. They show me love on the days when I'm feeling anything but loved. They keep me from being stupid, or at least offer council after I've done something stupid and need to get out of it. They are people I can laugh with or cry with. They won't judge me. They are my best friends. They are what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving. So thank you SMBC.