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Jacque Watkins

finding grace through the mud

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For When You Dare to Risk Enough to Be Real

by Jacque Watkins

Are you daring enough to be real?

Are you willing to tell a friend the raw truth because you believe they’ll be better because of it?

Because you can see beyond the conflict of the now?

Are you willing to risk being hurt in order to gain relationship?

Are you willing to open up?

To share your junk?

To put the care of your heart in another’s hands, because maybe, just maybe, it will be worth it?

Are you able to be real with yourself? To stop the facades of your own mind and admit what’s really happening inside?

Are you able to pause and see the truth of what someone says about you?

Are you willing to apologize when you’re wrong?

Are you willing to search out the new person in the room because you wish someone had searched you out when you were the new one?

Are you willing to share your past and where you’ve been, to help someone get through the suffering of their now, no matter the embarrassment it may bring?

Are you willing to genuinely care about another more than your own self? To look for their needs and passionately purpose to meet them?

We live in a world of superficialities and casual acquaintances. A Facebook culture where people stalk your status instead of engage in relationship.

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And I just wonder, have we grown so callous to being real that we’ve forgotten how to do it at all?

Are you willing to join me, no matter how hard it is, to make every interaction a real one? To drop the facades and shed the pretenses?

To build relationship one small step at a time—with vulnerability and risk.

Today, right now, are you daring enough to really be real?

 

 

 

 When have you taken the risk to be real?

What did it cost?

How did it change your life?

 

I’m joining Lisa-Jo, over at her site today, to take five minutes and just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. The challenge is to write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing, with the prompt she gives. And today, her prompt:

Real…

 

*Linking with Thought Provoking Thursday

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Related posts:

The Grace Giver When You Need to Stop the Expectations So You Can Find Joy How Joining in Relationship is Worth the Risk
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Comments

  1. leah jamielynn says

    May 4, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    I agree with you in so many points. Yes we have grown callous at times. and Yes, well, I hope, if a person is a true friend that i can tell them, and or take constructive criticizer . and apologize if i hurt or offended someone. without rewriting your story, it’s a ture and real story.
    Sorry I have two sites this is where my post is at for this prompt:
    http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/

  2. Sheila Edeliant says

    May 4, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    Hello, Jacque. I like the point you made near the end of your post, that building real relationships involves one small step at a time. This is really how we learn to trust, and how we see that we are heading in the right direction. Being honest from the start avoids the worry of getting too close somewhere down the road and having our false identity found out. 🙂

  3. Stephiekaye says

    May 4, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    AMEN!! Well articulated! I am willing…

  4. Alia Joy says

    May 4, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    The risk is always worth it whether we see the payoff immediately or not. Great reminder to live real and allow our lives to be authentic and risky.

  5. Ro elliott says

    May 4, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    I think the older I get…the more I am ready to be real with myself…and long for real relationships…great post…have a great weekend.

  6. Sara H says

    May 5, 2012 at 8:20 am

    “Are you able to be real with yourself?” That is always the tough one, eh? Thanks for the reminder. 🙂

  7. Sharon O says

    May 5, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    wow so many questions I would have to think about each one before I could answer, being REAL is the hardest journey we all can take. When we allow others to really see us, it is a great and humble risk. so much to think about.

Trackbacks

  1. Real and unashamed - Vacation Bible School Materials & more | Hasten Home says:
    May 4, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    […] try again next week….  If you would like to see one more “Real” post, check out For When You Dare to Risk Enough to Be Real at […]

  2. My Weekend Wish For You {Together with Joy and Laughter and Love} | Mercy Found Me says:
    July 29, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    […] and our hearts are happier and our lives more full when we live life together … when we let go of our inhibitions and live in the now—talking and laughing and embracing just because we […]

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Hi and welcome! I'm a Grace-clinger, Mercy-lover, wife, and mom to five ... a writer, part-time labor & delivery nurse, and podcaster of Mud Stories, who believes we are so very loved, and never, ever alone! I'm so very glad you're here! Read more about me here...

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