Connecting by Just Being Onesself

Tonight, on the 149th day of 2015, I needed a relaxing evening.  And thanks to my wife who rustled up volunteers, and the volunteers who showed up, I was freed from the Snack Stand on 5/29/15 and able to attend the Community event in town with my parents.  And it was nice to see all the town connections, people meeting people, making new connections, and strengthening the connections that people already have.  People were just relaxing and being themselves and having a nice time.  This made me also connect with a daily devotional that was sent to me today, imploring people to shed masks that we place on ourselves as we leave every day and to be aware that "we arm ourselves with our expectations for ourselves and others, our defense mechanisms and coffee mugs."  And I was thinking that being true to onesself and being as genuine as possibly allows us to connect deeply to ourselves and be open to connections to others.  It was a good reminder on a tough day at work and was a welcome one at that!