I have been reading a book where a question was asked that really caught my attention. It doesn’t have much to do with the book, but I think the answer to it reveals a lot about who we are, our stories, and how we view both God and the world.
“Where do you go in moments of shame to find security and significance?”
Part of why this question caught my eye is that I am dealing with shame from part of my own story right now. Recently someone shared part of my story with others, people I wound not have chosen to share it with. It is a part of my story that I feel great shame over, and that I am still working to come to terms with certain elements of this story. I don’t know exactly what was said, or what context it was shared in so the fact this sharing took place has left me feeling very insecure and exposed. Tomorrow at church I will have to face all of these people together for the first time, and I am left asking myself, “How will you deal with your shame and find security and significance?”
Living in shame is not part of God’s plan for us. He wants to change our stories by being a part of them and bringing good out of them. When we trust him, follow him, and live by his precepts he is able to do this. Where do we go in moments of shame? Is it a physical place, an emotional place, a spiritual place, or a combination of these? Do we invite God to be a part of that? Are we willing to share our shame with him and let him transform it into something else? I will be faced with that choice tomorrow. Will I stand before those involved in shame, or will I stand before God believing he can grant me security and significance, transforming my shame into something different? My fear is I will feel that shame, but my hope is in the fact that I have a choice and I don’t have to live in the shame. Do you find security and significance with God? Are you turning to someone or something else, a false god, for security? What can you do to take a step in the direction of letting God transform the areas of your shame?
