The respect that leadership must have requires that one’s ethics be without question. A leader not only stays above the line between right and wrong, he stays well clear of the gray areas.
Author Unknown
With all the news circulating about these two men one thing is clear. They have both died leaving their families with a lot of questions. It has given me the resolve to live my life openly. I don’t want to die amidst confusion of who I was in the dark. I want my family to know who I am both good and bad.
I want the things people say about me after I am gone to be true statements of my character.
Her windows were only cleaned halfway up because the gal that cleans her house is short and she never made her use a step stool.
Her baseboards needed desperate help.
She had expired lipstick in her makeup drawer because she always meant to go buy that color again.
She was headstrong and stubborn and she didn’t always handle things properly.
She had a stupid fear of choking on pills.
My life may not be perfect but at least it is what it is. I don’t want to die and then have my children wonder who I really was. I don’t want people to think they never knew me. How about you? Do you live your life in secret or do you try your best to live your life honestly?
Pastor Susan 
Living in the open requires a willingness to deal with flinging mud, though. It also means those who hate being exposed will use our foibles to smoke screen their own.
Where sin is concerned, there’s a lot of mudslinging going on. The truth is we need to live in the open as much for truth as grace. Grace is supposed to cover our whole lives, yet many live as if they don’t need while claiming the blood on their lives.
Accepting Christ as our Savior means exactly that: We are not saving ourselves or made perfect by some “halleluia” experience but through fear and trembling working out our salvation in light of God’s mercy.
Being open is the first step to showing how grace works. If I tell you that I’m struggling with a sin even if you don’t believe, you’re gonna’ recognize the peace the grace and forgiveness of Christ brings to my life. You’re also gonna’ recognize the changes more readily and know the source.
The best witness is an open life lived in the light. More power to ya’, Susan!
Praise the living God! I absolutely LOVE how He’s speaking to so many about the same thing, then using us to project that message to those who have not yet said “yes” to His offer of life and relationship!
Long ago I purposed the same thing for my life, Susan: that I would be the same everywhere. I called it being real; you have called it being authentic.
I used to tell people in the office that as I was there, I was the same at home, they’d just never see me with a wine glass at my desk or wearing jammies. Otherwise, the package was the same: same insecurities, same challenges with occasional clutter and rare bouts of temper; same care and concern for those around me.
They also knew I loved the Lord, and saw that I desperately tried to mirror His love and His nonjudgmental ways. I hoped my imperfections would not color their view of Him and His love. In other words, if He could accept me, as weird and challenged as I am, He could and most certainly did love them.
That sort of thing goes a long way, I believe, with people always knowing what to count on, understanding we remain “under construction” until we go Home, and that mercy and grace figure prominently in building good relationships.
God bless you for your example. Susan; God bless you for your wise words and encouragement!
all of Heaven’s best to you and yours,
Margret