Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethern, love one another fervently with a pure heart.

I Peter 1:22

Laura,one of my clients, shared  a dream with me: “I dreamed I was acting in a series of plays. One woman always showed up early for the shows, bringing a tape recorder. She listened to every word of every play. When there was a comedy, she laughed. When there was a sad drama, she cried. And she came to every one of the plays, not a select few. Then one day some people came and took all the costumes away. They took the curtains down. They even removed the scripts. The only thing left was a bare stage and a lone actress-me.”

Laura looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Well, tape  machine lady, no one has ever sat through every act of every play before. What are you going to do now that I have no costumes, no script and no curtains to hide behind? I’m just me, and I’m not sure who I am.”  With tears of my own, I told her, “We are now ready for the real show to begin.”

I feel deeply privileged to be involved in helping Laura learn to accept herself as she is. But the privilege of helping others accept themselves is not reserved for therapists. Laura is doing it, too, as she learns to become more accepting of the people in her life-loving them with a sincere, unconditional love.

Thought:  Do I love my family and friends for who they really are-without the curtains, or script?