In Elementary School, I discovered that am blind in one eye. I was given a vision test, and when they asked me to read the letters on the screen I said, "what screen?". Apparently, I didn't even see the big "E". It was soon discovered that I had a cataract. It came in handy in high school while traveling home from evening sporting events on the bus because my cloudy eye practically glowed in the dark. It seemed to draw a crowd.
It was around the time we discovered this that my Grandma sent me a book called The Velveteen Rabbit. As my mom read it to me, I was overcome with an emotion that I hadn't really felt before. The story wrecked me. Deep down, I guess I knew how true this really was:
Richard Rohr (I might as well just call him "Rich" at this point, since I quote him so often), says that we can only be taken from the scrapheap if we are first there to be found. The Velveteen Rabbit discovered this. The Crippled Beggar in Acts 3 also discovered this. He was placed by a gate, and found, and healed. We, too, are to put ourselves in this "scrapheap", by taking on the position of a beggar, in order to learn this truth. Matthew West's song, Broken Things, emphasizes this as well.
The Acts 3 story also brings up another point. First, the beggar allowed himself to be vulnerable by
being placed at a gate, begging, every day. He was not protecting himself from harm or insults - he was unguarded. This allowed him to be seen. As he then looked at Peter and John, admitting his weakness with just a glance into their eyes, this ended up giving him courage, authenticity, joy, belonging, and love.
But, there's more. Peter and John had been with Jesus. They had dropped everything in order to follow Him. Their time spent with Jesus showed them what living loved felt like and they really didn't care what other people thought of them. The Work of The People http://www.theworkofthepeople.com does an excellent job explaining how this transformation from being guarded and selfish to free and compassionate occurs in their Compassion series:
A few years ago, during a tumultuous parenting stage (not really finished yet), my daughter would run to her room and lock herself in there when she was sad or mad or just had an empty love tank. I would stand outside her door just asking for her to let me in and love her. She wanted to just get away and be alone but she really needed to be held and loved. I think this is how God feels with us so often. He just wants us to sit and let Him love us. This is what makes us whole, because it starts with being vulnerable - dropping our guard - opening the door, and allowing Him to see and love who we really are. Peter and John did this. As a result, they were given eyes to see and love ALL of those around them - even those most people ignored. We need to stop guarding ourselves and just let God and others love us into who we were meant to be - so that we can see and love everyone in our path. This is compassion. And this is what changes the world.
“By the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” (Margery Williams - The Velveteen Rabbit)This rabbit displayed the beauty of vulnerability because he showed us that brokenness can be a launching pad to freedom. Vulnerability can be defined as displaying an unguarded posture that allows us to be broken. Brene Brown says that it is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. I think The Velveteen Rabbit displays it wonderfully. In this unguarded love, he allowed himself to be broken, and this allowed him to become his authentic self. It is a lesson for each of us.
Richard Rohr (I might as well just call him "Rich" at this point, since I quote him so often), says that we can only be taken from the scrapheap if we are first there to be found. The Velveteen Rabbit discovered this. The Crippled Beggar in Acts 3 also discovered this. He was placed by a gate, and found, and healed. We, too, are to put ourselves in this "scrapheap", by taking on the position of a beggar, in order to learn this truth. Matthew West's song, Broken Things, emphasizes this as well.
The Acts 3 story also brings up another point. First, the beggar allowed himself to be vulnerable by
But, there's more. Peter and John had been with Jesus. They had dropped everything in order to follow Him. Their time spent with Jesus showed them what living loved felt like and they really didn't care what other people thought of them. The Work of The People http://www.theworkofthepeople.com does an excellent job explaining how this transformation from being guarded and selfish to free and compassionate occurs in their Compassion series:
Compassion is the result of living surrendered and free and being connected to God. It is the practice of living undefended and living loved.Where the Crippled Beggar and The Velveteen Rabbit left off, Peter and John kept going. After finding their True Selves in living undefended and loved, they developed a new way to see. A way to see without using your eyes - they looked at others from their soul, from where Jesus resided - so it doesn't matter if you have only one eye from which to see. They now had eyes of compassion that suffered with others - eyes that were opened by their connection to God.
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