Soul To Soul

July 9, 2010

On every summer project, time is set aside at the beginning to do “Soul-to-Souls”.  In a small group of people, you share your life story.  You include everything you want and are encouraged to leave nothing out.

We do this with two goals in mind.  One is that we want to quickly foster an environment of closeness and authenticity on project.  The other is that there is something very powerful about bringing your story, your whole story, into the light.  Things that seem dark and scary in our lives lose their power when shared with others.  Maybe this is one of the beautiful mysteries of community.

Before this summer, I had done soul-to-souls twice.  It is always a powerful thing to trust strangers with your story, with things you have never shared before, and to find them trustworthy.  To realize that knowing everything, they love and accept you.  And to learn through the stories of others that you are not the only one. Isolation is removed I stop believing that I am the only person on the planet who has struggled.

This experience was no different.  In fact, as we went from person to person, the girls in my group often said things like, “I’m so glad you shared that… It made me realize I could be honest and share this… I’ve never told anyone before.”  We feel some of the depth of God’s love and acceptance and grace through each other.