The kind of love you deserve

More than anything, we long to be seen. To be held in a safe, nonjudgemental, all-accepting presence. To be seen through loving eyes. And ‘being seen’ is what we fear the most. More than death, we fear intimacy's piercing gaze. And yearn for it all the same. It takes such courage to show yourself! To take off your mask, when you look and feel your worst to take off your mask (the one that was suffocating you anyway) and to say, "Look. Look. Here I am, world". To let yourself be seen before you're ready. When you feel the most rotten, the most dirty, the most wretched and unloveable, the most unevolved, the most boring, the most confused and lonely and broken and sad and angry and hurt, to let yourself be seen there. There, in that sore, shameful place. Let light in. Come out of hiding and invite someone into your 'private' world. Let them witness the real, authentic you. Before that pitiful defence called 'personality'. Say, "Look. Look, friend. Here I am". Take the risk of being loved! The risk of being rejected, yes. The risk of being shamed again, laughed at again, ridiculed again, maybe. The risk of being seen as a failure. As sick, or broken, or ugly, or weak. But the risk of being loved? Yes. Take the risk today because life is short, and it's exhausting trying to repress your authentic self. Let yourself be witnessed in the raw. The vulnerable you. The you without protection, without answers, without expertise. The imperfect you. Because the deepest shame is only healed in love's light. And your flaws were always longing to be touched with an awareness so tender that it would birth entire universes to find itself. And you can fall now into the arms of a loving friend. Who will hold you. Naked. Unprotected. Imperfect. Loveable. Just as you are. This is the kind of love you deserve. True human love which is also God's love. The kind of love that bathes you in gentleness when you feel the most ashamed, the most frightened, the most lost. When you feel the smallest. A huge love that holds you. Never settle for less. - Jeff Foster