HONESTY

| ANNE WILLIAMSON |

I am increasingly convinced honesty sits at the heart of all good things. Want to uncover your passion? Get honest about answering the question, "What would I do if I weren't afraid?" Looking for deeper connections? Be honest about who you are - where you struggle and find joy. Want to laugh really hard? Just wait for the next honestly human and hilarious moment. Frustrated about your relationship with food? Find the courage (and support) to explore why and how you really use it. Wondering why your prayers feel flat? Ditch the pretense and try a little raw truth: "God, I don't trust you" or "I guess I really don't want to forgive. I'm afraid of what forgiving means: forgetting, me being 'okay'..." or "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" or... 

Honesty isn't particularly easy, especially when we're unaccustomed to it. It can even be painful... but only at first. Then, it becomes the key to our freedom, joy, reconciliation, you name it. LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE. What do you hear, honestly?

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VULNERABILITY

| ANNE WILLIAMSON |

My daughter is walking now. Yea! She's also falling now... A LOT. And not soft, little bottom plops.  Big, face-plant falls into unkind objects. I hate when she gets hurts, but it's complicated because I'm also proud of why she gets hurt: she's willing to fall.

In the below reflection by Lily Percy, she writes, "Part of living curiously is being open to failure. And part of failure is being willing to be vulnerable." 

The thing about kids is they're necessarily vulnerable. They don't have a choice.  It's either step forward or forever remain seated. For parents, this can be scary, but more so, if we let it, it's inspiring. What would happen if we each chose, or perhaps accepted, vulnerability? Would it stop holding us back? Would we, like kids, become more willing to fall, to fail, to step forward curiously? In fact, would we begin to see vulnerability as a prerequisite for growth? LEARN, LISTEN, LOVE...  

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STILLNESS IN DECISION MAKING

| ANNE WILLIAMSON |

You may or may not be familiar with last week's World Vision news story. To summarize: World Vision works to end poverty and injustice around the world, most visibly through child sponsorship. On Monday, March 24, World Vision (US branch) announced it would begin employing gay Christians in legal same-sex marriages. After intense criticism and dropped sponsorships from conservative evangelical Christians, on March 26, WV reversed that decision.  

Now, as a person unapologetically in favor of comprehensive equal rights for LGBTQ individuals, there are a myriad of reasons I'm anti WV's reversal; but, honestly, the biggest has to do with timing. Sources tell us WV spent 2 years in prayer and discernment around employing committed LGBTQ folks. They took just 2 days to reverse that decision! 2 years of listening amid normal daily life versus 2 days of mind-racing amid a media frenzy and disappearing contributions. If God "speaks," how does God "speak"? How do we decide to trust what it is we "hear"? LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...  

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HAPPY

| ANNE WILLIAMSON |

I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately... and not just because I love the Pharrell song. Namely, how does one "get" happy? Perhaps it is the consequence of circumstance. Or, one's natural disposition. Maybe it's more like an object, floating in and out of our life "willy nilly" at the whim of our subconscious. Or, maybe it's a choice. Perhaps a choice hindered or bolstered by other choices, daily, minute-to-minute even. LISTEN, LEARN, LOVE...

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