SPINES OUT

I lost a book the other day. It is a dreaded phrase. 

I searched and searched my bookshelf and I just couldn’t find it. I searched, and I searched again. I pondered whether I had lent the book out to someone else. My brain couldn’t recall lending it out. I then searched again because I have this habit of not really looking. I have to ask my wife Jen all the time to find things for me because I tend to scan past them. I was determined to find this book without asking for help.   

After what felt like 20 minutes, there it was right there on the bookshelf. Apparently, my subconscious mind didn’t recognize the book because in my imagination, the cover was full of bright colors and bold lettering. In reality, the spine of the book was much more subtle than the cover. I wasn’t expecting the spine to be different from the cover. I wasn’t looking for the more subdued color tones found on the spine of the book.  

As humans, we spend a lot of time on our book covers, though our book covers are metaphorical. I have noticed that we go out of our way to make the perfect first impression. We craft our stories about ourselves so that people will like us.  

We practice the way introduce ourselves to other people. We rehearse the stories that we tell so that others might like us.  

But then there are the times that we open ourselves up to someone else and they get to know the uncurated version of ourselves. When we are vulnerable, we allow others to see both our flaws and our strengths. It’s like showing them the “spine” of the book that looks a little different than the cover.  

It can be risky opening ourselves up to let people really know us. When we come to truly believe that Jesus truly loves us as we are, we begin to feel truly safe. It is from the safety of Jesus’ love that we can let others truly know us.  

Peace, 
Travis Segar 
Pastor Care and Community