Safe

 

“Safe is I’ve got this.  You are protected from physical and emotional dangers, harm, experience repair of ruptures in relationships, have appropriate boundaries (neither rigid nor unpredictable), empowered to explore and move, and present to your whole self (including body)…seen and soothed and safe is what helps us feel secure.” Sacred Attachment by Michael John Cusick

 

Once we are seen and soothed, we can live from a different place.  There is a different spirit that motivates our movement.  No longer is our energy poured into protecting the mask for someone to really see us lest they judge us.  We know move about the world differently.  To be sure, we live in a world that is constantly shouting, “Danger!!”  Our brain came with operational software to alert you to the lion lurking in the weeds, only now the lions are coworkers who betray you and take credit for your work.  Only now the lion is family members who offer you only conditional love if you wear the right religious/political/family mask.  Only now, the lion is a culture that will cancel you if you don’t toe the party line.  Only now the lion is a church that demands alliance and for you to increase your pledge.  Only now the lions are trolls on social media who respond to your post with words that drip with shame.  You have already met the “lions” in your life; you have their claw marks on your skin/souls.  They go by different names and show up in predictable and sometimes surprising ways.  Because, like a gazelle in an open field, we all feel too exposed to a world that loves to comment and really loves to critique, offering you unsolicited advice.  Everyone wants to tell you how to improve your project of life.  We need a space where the people who see us and soothe us, cheer us on.  We need people who say, “You’ve got this.”  I think back to elementary school, where I would color with abandon and not worry about the grade.  I think back to early sermons when I didn’t worry about someone sending me an email dripping with disappointment.  I think back to moments of being carefree, not careless, but showing up as God calls each of us to be.  Is there a place you are safe?  Where and with whom can you intentionally cultivate that?  Where and for whom can you invite another into your space to be seen, soothed, and safe today?  May each of us do more than think about that last question, but seek to live that question with others.  Amen.