By Savoy Stevens
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In a world that often pushes us to hide our flaws and project a perfect image, authenticity and vulnerability are acts of courage. They require us to take off our masks and allow ourselves to be seen—flaws and all. And while it can feel risky, these qualities are essential for true growth and transformation.

When we think of growth, we often imagine it as a straight path upward. But more often than not, real growth looks messy. It involves moments where we feel lost, uncertain, or even broken. The truth is, those uncomfortable moments are precisely where transformation happens. In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul writes, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God doesn't wait for us to be perfect to work in our lives. He meets us in our vulnerability and uses it as the foundation for growth.

Authenticity, then, becomes the key to opening that door. When we are honest about who we are—our fears, our struggles, our doubts—we invite God to step in. It’s not about having it all together but about having the courage to admit when we don’t. Psalm 34:18 reminds us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” It’s in our brokenness, not our perfection, that we often experience God’s presence most profoundly.

Vulnerability also builds resilience. When we acknowledge our weaknesses, we become more open to God’s strength working through us. In letting go of the need to appear strong, we gain a deeper reliance on God. Vulnerability allows us to lean into this trust, knowing that we don’t have to have all the answers.Growth isn’t about avoiding hardship or pretending we have it all figured out. It’s about stepping into the discomfort of vulnerability, knowing that God is with us in those moments. In embracing our authenticity, we create space for God to do His transformative work, shaping us into who we were always meant to be.
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So, the next time you feel the pressure to be perfect, remember that God’s grace shines brightest through your cracks. It’s in those moments of vulnerability that real growth takes root and flourishes. Be authentic, be vulnerable, and trust that God is doing something beautiful within you.

By Jim Peterson

Wake up. Look. See!
To pay attention to life
Is to gain one’s life.

What, wisdom asks, do you get when you really pay attention to your life? A life! This suggests that life in its fullest is lived only as we pay attention to it. On the reverse side, it has been observed that that of which we are unconscious rules us. Our behavior is largely shaped by forces, dispositions, habits, beliefs, assumptions of which we are mostly unaware because they are so deeply embedded in our body, psyche, and spirit. We can sleep our way through life spurred and guided by such unconscious influences. But this need not be the case; we can wake up, the first step on the journey of spirit. The antidote to walking through life in our sleep is the practice of paying attention.

The Hebrew scriptures tell the story of Moses encountering a burning bush in the wilderness.
When he sees the bush ablaze yet not consumed, he stops, turns, and pays attention. Elizabeth
Barrett Browning captures such a moment as only a poet can:
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“Earth’s crammed with heaven / And every common bush afire with God, / But only he
who sees takes off his shoes; / The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” [Excerpt from
Aurora Leigh]

I like to think that the bush Moses saw was ablaze all day long, and many a traveler had passed
by unseeing; only Moses was practiced enough in paying attention to see something more than
a brightly lit bush.

Have you ever experienced something like this: seeing something or someone with wider
eyes, with the eyes of the heart, where something more, something deeper that is there
all along is revealed?

But there is more to the story. It goes on to reveal that when Moses paid attention, he was
instructed to take off his shoes – this was holy ground, after all; it is sacred space that we enter
when we pay deep attention. Then Moses is addressed by a voice from the bush that ultimately
leads to his calling to be the leader and former of a nation. The steps in this story are: stop /
turn / attend / listen / and respond. Moses full life is revealed and turns on this experience,
which starts with his paying attention.

The challenge for us is that paying attention in this deep way is hard work. It takes intention, an
act of our will. And it is fraught with uncertainty and fear: What will we “hear”? Will it call for a
response that we don’t want to make (Moses, indeed, argued vigorously with God about his
calling). Will it dislodge us from our comfortable life (shepherding, in Moses’ case)? Will we be
safe afterwards? Will we be alone; who will accompany us? These are fundamental questions of
life’s meaning, of safety, of belonging. Sometimes it is so much easier to stick with sleepwalking
through life where these questions can be kept, we imagine, at bay.

For us to take the risk of paying attention we need to open ourselves in trust that this is what
the journey of faith requires and that we come into the fullness of who we are and are meant
to be only in this way. This is not a trust that we can gin up for ourselves. It must be uncovered,
discovered, received, taken in. While life experience can sometimes undermine this process of
trust building, it is when we attend to life more fully that it can generate, build, and sustain our
trust. If we cannot find it readily within ourselves, the deep trust in Life we observe in others
can help. Here too, paying attention (in this case to others) is a fruitful practice. Moreover, trust
builds on trust, and if we step out in small ways, the results can make bigger steps possible. The
underlying engine of this growth is the practice of paying attention and in doing that,
responding as we are able.

In what ways has trust grown in you? How has your own attentiveness to unfolding life
played a role in this growth?

Ultimately, our trust is in the “voice” we hear from the burning bush – in the “more,” the
universe, a higher power, or the mystery we call God (or any of several other names). It is, at
heart, a relationship. It is not just a “what” we are paying attention to, but more deeply a
“who.” As we pay attention more and more to this “who,” we discover more and more the
fullness of our own life.
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Wake up! Look and see. And gain your life.