Show up by Dawn Layne

This is a poem written by a friend of mine here in Richmond.  Dawn Layne.  I really love the sentiment and how powerfully it is written.  Enjoy!

Show up
by Dawn Layne

It’s time
to show up
fully engaged with life,
making eye contact with God and really seeing.
You must show up naked and willing to be seen.
You must show up with your raw edges showing, your scars visible,
your crude or well-crafted walls in rubble at your feet.
You must show up.
You must show up as willing to open your mouth as you are to keep it shut,
as willing to raise your voice as you are to cage it.
You must show up willing to share what you know and who you are.
You must show up and open the doors to your cave and meet your tribe
fully engaged, making eye contact with God and seeing, really seeing his presence in each one of them.
You must show up awake and alive,
willing to light candles when they step near your fire,
willing to create space and hold it open so that truth can flow through it.
You must show up and be a bridge from where you were to where you are
or at least share the map.
You must show up
present,
aware,
real,
even when real is bruised and tired.
You must show up
even when you haven't gotten what you think you want, that ever-elusive thing,
when you are running on the edge that separates heaven and hell,
even when, especially when, fear is still present.
You are not here to be anything other than fully engaged
anything other than connected
anything other than who you are.
Show up.
It’s time.