Just call me a two-year-old because I almost had a meltdown. Something important to me recently didn’t go the way I wanted it to. I’m not going to delve into all of that, because that’s not my focus, and focusing on the issue certainly won’t fix it.

What I will say, especially following a conversation over lunch with a friend recently, is that immediately as I begin to melt faster than a Blue Bunny Bomb Pop on a hot, Alabama day in August, I turned to one of my cheerleaders. I opened myself up, fears, questions, sadness and all to share with someone who I know cares, so that they could step in to help me through this small (but big at the time) matter. I allowed this person to see me.

How many people in your life have that privilege? How many people can you boldly ask, “Can you see me now?” How many people do you trust yourself enough to trust that you can be the good, “bad and in need of some major prayer” you around and they will still love you, support you, correct you if needed and walk with you? I often think of my favorite TV character, Whitley Gilbert-Wayne from the 90’s sitcom, “A Different World”. One episode in particular was about her waking up before the break of dawn to wash her face, apply make-up, brush her teeth and spritz on her favorite perfume before her newlywed husband rose for the day. She didn’t want her husband, DeWayne Cleophus Wayne to see (or smell for that matter) the real, “just waking up in the morning” her. I laugh each time I see that episode, because that reminds me of me and so many others. Whitley’s issues were superficial, but for us, sometimes support for the superficial and the serious get overlooked in our life because we don’t trust.

Why in the world do we have friends, family members, romantic interests, etc. if we’re not going to be able to allow them to see us? I’m not saying every relationship should have the same level of divulging. They should not! I’m definitely not saying to not pray about and use wisdom to determine who to open up to about what, but why is being transparent, and trusting our own spirits of discernment, gut instinct, common sense or whatever not enough to open ourselves up to the right, appointed people? And why is it we give people from our past (who might not have been the right people to be transparent with in the first place) SO much power over where we are now?

I know. I know. You’ve been hurt. I have too. But we’re still here, which to me means that what hurt us didn’t kill us! Plus, if someone is not smart enough to value a real relationship with us and does something not in our best interest with whatever we’ve shared, then I’d suggest we readily prepare our hearts and lives for the cheerleaders who are truly on our team and pray for the ones who have proven not to be ’cause our Daddy does NOT like when people mess with or mess over His children. Capiche?!?!

-Angela Moore