I often find myself feeling misunderstood. Well, probably not as much now as I did when I was a kid but there have been plenty of times where I wasn’t sure if someone “got me.” Sometimes I speak in a way where people who don’t know me, could think I was a really horrible person.

For me, being misunderstood leads to so many questions. What if it they don’t understand what I’m saying?  What if they tell someone else?  What if I write something that doesn’t convey what I think it does?   What if they judge me for my words?  What if they find out I have no idea what I am doing and most days I feel like a total fraud? What if I fail?

The what if questions are suffocating.  They hold your head down while you are under water trying desperately to catch a breath. If I focus too much on the what if questions I find myself sitting in the corner of my kitchen crying, trying to breathe.  These what if questions are the stuff nightmares are made of.  I think the what if’s give birth to fear.  And fear sidelines you so fast you can’t even think about it.  Even sitting here typing this, typing the questions and thinking about the fears my breathing is labored.  The what if’s breed fear because they are all based on unknowns and fear likes the unknowns.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live sidelined anymore.  I don’t want to be living in fear, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I want to dream the big dreams and do it because, why not?!?  I don’t want to be the person that puts on my Sunday best and then hangs it up when I get home.  I want Jesus walking with me in my yoga pants.  (And I don’t even do yoga!)  I just want to be myself, unashamed and unafraid.  Fear has nothing on you if you don’t let it.  I don’t want to worry about coming across to churchy.  I don’t want to be churchy.  I want to be love.  Jesus was love.  He loved people better than anyone in the history of the earth.  Not many of us would forgive the people who beat us and hung us to die but that’s the love Jesus showed.

So who’s with me?  Can you imagine what the world would be like if we stopped worrying about offending someone and just loved them?  What would it be like if we stopped arguing about every little difference and just loved each other?  What if we didn’t worry about being misunderstood and just loved people and let people love us? I am going to go out on a limb here and say it would be flipping amazing!!  Let’s get in the game already and stop asking the questions and just do it!  Let’s go before the clock runs out!