124- Naked

Don't worry it is not what you think!  I am naked while fully clothed!  Today I was having lunch with a very special long time friend.  While talking I started to cry.  (I know what you are thinking.... yep that sounds like Beth)  I know I cry, I know when music touches me I get weepy.  I know when a child of mine, or anyones child gets up and praises God, I cry.  I know when I preach, I cry.   One could say I cry easily, but recently it is so much worse.  Sunday when I arrived home after running 5 miles, Chris asked what my average pace was and as soon as I started to tell him, I started crying.  I was so happy, so relieved!  While watching a video about the race, I saw a picture of a mother and daughter running and I started to cry.  Today, what I was saying was not that big a deal, but I started crying.  I told Sondra that recently I have become much more weepy.  I feel raw.  She said something brilliant.  She said, "perhaps it is that you are naked, without all that crap you used to carry around." 

I have thought about being naked before, but naked from the stand point that I try to be very blunt and honest in my writing.  Not holding back.  When she said that today, it rang true!  I do feel lighter,  I feel more alive, I feel more in touch with my feelings, I feel free.  All of this I have longed for for so long.  I still have a ways to go but I'm getting there.

Today, we had finance committee and they approved my budget which gives me an intern for the summer.  The intern will be Becca Anderson whom I love and whom I know will do a terrific job.  As I left the board room and shut the door behind me I did a silent happy dance.  You know the happy dance like Julia Roberts does in the Pretty Woman movie.  Well that was me today, in the office, in front of all the student workers.  They thought I was crazy.   I was almost as excited, that I did the happy dance without thinking, as I was about why I was doing the happy dance.  Then the very next moment tears were filling my eyes and the students were completely perplexed.  It was the first time I have ever done a spontaneous happy dance.

Things are changing for me.  I am not wearing as much (C) as I used to!  I am not playing in it, cherishing it!

So tonight I am praising God that I am a little more naked.  Thanking God for taking me on this journey.  I am thankful for the moments when I feel wrapped up in a huge, soft, plush white terry cloth  robe.  I cherish the moments when I can smell the fragrance of the lotion.  It is amazing how beautiful life smells when you are willing to wash away the (C). 

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Matt 8:2


A forty two year old woman came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me  clean"  Thank you Lord for working in my life, for the softness of the robe and sweet smell of a life with you!