Vacation Week – Guest Blogger Ashley Warren

Of all the great women that I work with Ashley probably works the closest with me… AND STILL LOVES ME!  Ash sees the real me on a daily basis and is faithful to support and yet challenge me when needed… helping me to tear down my walls.  Enjoy her post!

I have a direct line of sight from my desk to Jenni’s. We essentially have a conversation going on day in and day out. My name is Ashley Warren, and I’ve had the privilege of serving with Jenni and the Cross Point team for 2 years now as Jen’s assistant, the Office Manager and the First Impressions Ministry Coordinator. What fun to have a job that involves putting attention and energy into making sure people feel valued and have a great experience when they’re with us! I’m also the wife of an amazingly steady and talented man, an avid reader, a Dr. Pepper addict, a runner, and a former high-school English teacher. We sometimes tease Jenni about the fact that she has hired two teachers straight out of the public school classroom…those poor kids sure are missing out!

While in the classroom, one of my favorite poems to teach was Frost’s “Mending Wall.” In it the speaker describes an annual ritual in which he and his neighbor walk the line of the fence separating their lands and repair the damage that nature has done to this dividing rock wall.

And he says,” Something there is that does not love a wall.”

Does that resonate with your heart the way it does with mine? We think walls protect us, give us privacy, a fortress. Sometimes they do. More often, they keep people out of the places in our lives where we need the accountability and influence real relationships provide. They are a barrier to the truths we need to hear and the grace we so desperately need. They keep us trapped in facades, a barrier to being authentic. And we know they’re not right. We want them down.

My wall, the way I manage people’s perception of me, is the toiling to keep people convinced that I’ve got it all together. I work hard to keep from having to admit how out of control, overwhelmed and crippled by insecurity I often feel (but there I go typing it for all of blogdom to see!). I keep those stones firmly stacked one on top of the other. But something there is that does not love a wall.

And when the walls come down, and I am able to see myself the way Jesus looks at me, that’s where freedom and rest and growth happen. That’s when I experience real love. And what a breath of fresh air it is to see those stones fall.

Where is the wall you need to chip away at?