The Way I see it

If you haven't picked up on it from all the Searching for God Knows What, A Thousand Miles in a Million Years and Blue Like Jazz quotes, I'm a big Donald Miller fan. Just yesterday, I picked up Through Painted Deserts. I also picked up a copy of St. Augustine's Confessions mainly because John Piper once said:

"I don't think we ought to be reading new books all the time. I think we should read old books. And then the question is whether time and history has proven them. There are some books that have been around forever, and they are, generation after generation, witnessed to as being very shaping to people's lives. So I think we should constantly be exposing ourselves to those classics and not always reading the latest thing."

I dig Miller's style and value his insights, but I need to gain a deeper appreciation for the works of our Christian forefathers that shaped our current faith and have stood the test of time!

That was all a rabbit trail, back to Don Miller. I also follow his blog and, today, he wrote a few observations of a TED talk by a woman named Brene Brown titled The Power of Vulnerability. Here are a few things that I took from Miller than he took from Brown:

1. We are here to connect. It’s hardwired into our biology. It’s the driving force in the human personality.
2. People who have a strong sense of love and belonging BELIEVE THEY ARE WORTHY OF LOVE AND BELONGING.
3. Connected people believe that what makes them vulnerable makes them beautiful. Connected people are willing to say “I love you” first and to take relational risks. They are willing to get hurt. This is fundamental to a connected person.
4. We numb vulnerability because it scares us. We overeat, drink and escape the risks involved in actually connecting with other human beings. Connected people don’t numb vulnerability.

I like to think that I'm a connected person and I embrace my vulnerability.
Read his whole blog here and watch the video here.