"...marry, snub, and exploit."

Regaining a value of self also entails gaining a value for others. Aren't we, after all, deeply, creatures of community? C.S. Lewis said that, "There are no ORDINARY people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit." Regaining value of self seems to rise or fall on the way I see others - and vice verse. And they both depend on grace. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Often, before making my quick escape out the back after church, I would first take communion. I find it interesting how, no matter the fact that I've taken communion a hundred times, it seems that every time has presented the opportunity to meditate and realize something new or profound. My realization a few months back was that by taking communion I was being invited into Christ's community. That this was church, that i was as much an heir to the community as anyone else present- despite the fact that I sneaked out the back like a shamed beggar. It wasn't for what i could say about myself, but for what Christ said about me. No matter what I felt like, the truth was that I belonged. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is, again, not to say that healing comes quickly, but it is, so to speak, to point higher.