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Let It All Hang Out


franciscanheart

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God, MS, you made me cry. Thank you. Just thank you for what you said, thank you for saying it. Thank you for expressing what I wanted to say.

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Nihil Obstat

I'm going to sound like Nihil, but maybe he's for this part right: if you want to talk something out (or just talk at me) please feel free to message or email.

Gods peace. More later.

Well I was not planning on posting here, but now I feel obligated to make some sort of appearance. <_<

 

Yeah, good thread. I like this thread. For me, holiness is all about personal responsibility. It is easy to blame people when we lose ourselves (to our tempers, our pride, whatever our 'pet sin' might be), to carry grudges - essentially, to avoid breaking that cycle of bitterness and sin and saying "I will do whatever I can to be better."

That is how I see this thread. If you do not mind me saying, the way I read this thread is you stepping up and saying "I will be responsible for myself and my interactions on this forum." And everyone should sincerely intend the same thing. But we all mess up sometimes.

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franciscanheart

This post really gave me a lot to think about. Thank you for that. It probably prevented me from spending gobs of money while wandering Hobby Lobby last night. ;)

In some ways, I've been thinking about this a lot recently. We are starting to make friends with the people who live around us, and as someone who has always had a hard time making friends, I get nervous about how much of myself I can show to other people. And then I struggle with trying to figure out what is more important to me, having people I can call friends, or being able to be myself. And that has led me to think about the people I have felt the most connection with in my life. It was always the people who let me see the real them. They let me share their brokenness and they shared mine, and in that brokenness they showed me what made them human and allowed me to be human too, with all my flaws and imperfections. In the end, many of those friendships didn't last, either because of disagreements and upsets or time and distance, but I can see what a difference they've made in my life, now.

Those people really helped me to be who I actually am and inspired me to be a better person, because they loved me where I was at, then. And they showed me that it's normal to struggle and it was okay to make mistakes. And some of those things didn't sink in until years later, but they still made a huge difference. I will never forget the day I went to babysit for a family and the mom practically ran out of the house as soon as I got there because she was so excited to be able to leave the house by herself and have adult conversations. At the time, I was somewhat surprised by how excited she was. I knew how much she loved being a stay-at-home-mom and adored her kids. After I had the kiddo, I understood and felt soooo much better about myself knowing it was normal and okay to not want to spend every minute with your kids. Even saying that sounds kind of dumb, but so many times in life it feels like everyone else has everything figured out and is doing things so perfectly and never has those moments where they just need to get away from everything or they will explode.

While it's possible in day-to-day life to hide a lot from others, I think the internet makes it so much easier to show only what we want others to see. We don't have to worry about these people coming into our house and seeing the mess in the living room, or our dirty dishes or catching a glimpse of that ratty teddy bear we still sleep with every night. We can claim to be who we want to be. We can do our best to hide our scars and bruises. But in doing so we're losing out. We're denying ourselves help and support, and we're denying others the chance to help us and learn from us. Being authentic is definitely something I need to work on, both in real life and online. I used to be much better at it, but over the years I've built walls and am just now coming to terms with things that happened to me so I can. Part of this is because I'm again trying to figure out who I am, in light of those things and the ways those scars have manifested themselves in my life.

But through it all, I know that I am human, too. I have wounds and flaws, just like everyone else. And I know that is something I need to remember when I interact with other people. Regardless of if that other person acknowledges it or not, they are broken, too. I am no better than they are, and despite any facade, they aren't perfect, either.

Also, that OP made me think of this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_fSNz6NvQ

That's exactly what I was struggling to say. That authenticity is what has helped me most to grow and brought me most comfort in distress.

Thanks for articulating so well what I could not.
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God, MS, you made me cry. Thank you. Just thank you for what you said, thank you for saying it. Thank you for expressing what I wanted to say.

Don't blasphemy.

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CatholicsAreKewl

Don't blasphemy.

 

I always found it interesting how Catholics in different cultures have a different understanding of blasphemy. In parts of the Middle East, her use of "God" would not be considered sinful, even by clergymen. 

Edited by CatholicsAreKewl
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LittleWaySoul

Don't blasphemy.

Okay, may I take this opportunity to ask you a question? Is the grammatical error in the o.m.g. filter on purpose or...?

 

Shouldn't it be "don't blaspheme"?

I've always been curious about this, so. :like:

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I had a religion teacher in 8th grade who said "Oh my G*d" all the time. She said she meant it as a prayer so it was ok.

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Okay, may I take this opportunity to ask you a question? Is the grammatical error in the o.m.g. fiddler on purpose or...?

 

Shouldn't it be "don't blaspheme"?

I've always been curious about this, so. :like:

I am quoting Jules from Pulp Fiction, so yes, "don't blasphemy" is intentional.

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LittleWaySoul

I am quoting Jules from Pulp Fiction, so yes, "don't blasphemy" is intentional.

Cool! Thank you for answering! :smile3:

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