Being Naked is Probably Good for Your Health
If you expected to see a risqué picture tagged…well you can just wash your eyes out with soap…because I am not that kind of girl, and I don’t appreciate exploitation…we’ll save the modesty chat for another day. It’s a scandalous title to be sure, but I find an odd sense of satisfaction from periodically stepping outside the box of what is considered kosher and acceptable (provided my values and other people aren’t purposefully harmed). It’s like the silly high people get from drinking juice by the brand “Naked” because it makes them feel safely outrageous and indecent without truly being those things. Vulnerable and free from the confines of straight-jacket expectations.
Webster defines “naked” in several ways. Probably most often, I think of naked as being “devoid of customary or natural covering.” I know this would be the understanding of my 4 year old niece. Just a couple of weeks ago, she was asked what she thought of her brand new brother. With eyes focused on his red & wrinkly, bare body, she said, “he’s a little bit naked; they should put some clothes on him.” I smiled at her candid insight and wondered if she imagined her mama’s baby bump to have contained someone more well-dressed and not this unkempt and vulnerable little squaller. Her immediate and well-trained thoughts were, “How quickly can we cover him? Doesn’t he know, or don’t the doctors and nurses know that it’s a shameful thing to be so utterly exposed?” I cannot fault her for her dismay; after all, we’re taught early on that it’s inappropriate to bare all to the world around us.
Is it ever okay to be truly and unashamedly naked? Is it even beneficial? I’m by no means advocating that everyone frequent the nudist beaches or present their birthday suit as some sort of freedom statement. But perhaps there is a time to be “devoid of concealment or disguise.” Just maybe this world would benefit from people of unabashed passion and love and authenticity.
There are people near and dear to my heart, and at times—myself--, who have concealed and disguised themselves for the sake of saving face. Now…we don’t need to be airing our dirty laundry or exercising our “right” to bash and complain just for the sake of putting up a fight. However, bottling the anger or sadness or fear that we each inevitably face at some point—rather than dealing with it or acknowledging that it’s real—that’s what leaves people imprisoned despite their façade of perfection and false rightness.
This is no license to slander or exude years of hate onto unsuspecting bystanders; I guess it’s more a call to be real. To live in community where grace and genuineness abound…to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” To live in such a way that, even in our humanity and imperfection, we can reflect love, joy and peace that passes the world’s understanding. To be exposed and vulnerable, and at the same time, entirely confident in the One who made us to reflect Him.
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