10.23.23 - Psalm 38:9-11
You are always worthy of connection. This Psalm models a way to gain connection: name your shame, confess your misalignment. How do you want to step from shame into connection today?
O Lord, all my longing is known to you; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs; my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction, and my neighbors stand far off.
Can you recall the last time you were stuck in a shame spiral?
That’s precisely what the Psalmist is naming in this emotive prayer from the gut.
Brené Brown defines shame as “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. Shame often leaves us feeling immobilized, or worse, feeling ready to strike out as a way of offloading the pain of disconnection.”
The Psalmist, although ashamed, is taking the courageous step of moving this shame from the unexpressed to the expressed.
They model raw honesty when the crap hits the fan - especially when we’re the ones who’ve caused the crap.
If we’re misaligned with love, with the path of integrity - we need to shift. This visceral prayer will either sound painful familiar, or give you a real-life glimpse of what other’s experience when shame engulfs them.
You are always worthy of connection. This Psalm models a way to gain connection: name your shame, confess your misalignment.
How do you want to step from shame into connection today?
--Libby Tedder-Hugus