Day 32

"'Woman,' he said, 'why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?'
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.'
Jesus said to her, 'Mary.'
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, 'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher)."

John 20:15-16

Once Jesus is resurrected, he makes a number of appearances like this to his disciples. He comes back to meet with them, yet doesn't reveal himself until a certain point in the exchange. He walks miles to Emmaus, not telling his disciples that he has risen. They don't realize it until they're sitting down to dinner with him. He appears to his fishermen disciples, but they don't know who he is until he invites them to the shore.

The lesson I took from this trend is that there are correct and incorrect times to reveal one's true nature to others. Anyone who has been in a relationship knows that, as the cast of Scrubs explains to Janitor, you can't reveal all your "crazy" at once. There are characteristics that a new friend, coworker, boss, date, teacher, etc. need to know about you right away, and these vary by the person. But there are other things that need to be saved for the right moment. In the relationship, your "crazy" should be saved. A new friend needs to earn trust before learning some important information.

My point here is that I sometimes reveal too much or not enough or say the wrong things in the right situations, etc. As a pastor, I'll have to be able to recognize what is the right and wrong thing to do, and when to show my "crazy." I pray that I will hear God's prodding and calling on my heart.