{"id":306,"date":"2017-08-15T20:57:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T20:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/?p=306"},"modified":"2017-08-15T23:12:16","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T23:12:16","slug":"naked-but-not-afraid-well-maybe-just-a-little-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/15\/naked-but-not-afraid-well-maybe-just-a-little-afraid\/","title":{"rendered":"Naked but not afraid (well, maybe just a little afraid)…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

On my birthday, the day that–when I decided I was special enough to<\/em> myself to make it special for<\/em> myself–has become one of my favorite days of the year, I asked myself, “What do you want to wear on this, your very special day?”<\/p>\n

To which I answered, “My ‘get naked’ shirt.” Not only because nothing says birthday suit quite like a reference to your birthday suit, but because to me a birthday is a day for epiphanies–a day to set intentions–for what this added gift of another year of life should look like.<\/p>\n

And for this, my precious added year, I’m choosing to be naked–dancing in the fountains, streaking through the ball parks–stark raving naked.<\/p>\n

Before you start planning tactics for avoiding me this year, please allow me to explain.<\/p>\n

Naked means vulnerability.\u00a0 Naked means truth. Naked is our offering–when we wish upon a star–that gives the Blue Fairy her power to make us real.<\/p>\n

Naked is how we came into this world and naked is how we were always meant to live.<\/p>\n

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.\u00a0 Genesis 2:25<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was born completely naked and I was not ashamed.\u00a0 Until the influences and experiences of this life sent me diving into the bushes–rummaging frantically for fig leaves big enough to hide my nakedness, my imperfections, insecurities and fear.\u00a0 I forgot who I really am.\u00a0 Who the Lord sent me here to be.\u00a0 I gave away my power.\u00a0 Gave it to a lie.\u00a0 But this year I’m ready to call a bluff a bluff.<\/p>\n

The first effect of Adam\u2019s sin was that he was afraid (<\/em>Genesis 3:10)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/em>And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was<\/span> naked; and I hid myself.<\/p>\n

Sin destroys that feeling of confidence God\u2019s child should feel in a loving Father and produces instead a feeling of shame and guilt. Ever since the Fall God has been teaching men not to fear…\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (<\/em>Bible dictionary)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My intention for this year is to take back my power, to throw off my fig leaves and to place my confidence in a God who loves me.<\/p>\n

This year I’ll call that Blue Fairy and I’ll tell her I’m ready. This year I will<\/em> be made real.<\/p>\n

And I’ll do it in my birthday suit because there is no other way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On my birthday, the day that–when I decided I was special enough to myself to make it special for myself–has become one of my favorite days of the year, I asked myself, “What do you want to wear on this, your very special day?” To which I answered, “My ‘get naked’ shirt.” Not only because … Continue reading “Naked but not afraid (well, maybe just a little afraid)…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}