Gumby God

We have a Gumby God. A God who bends down and stoops low. A God who contorts the Godself to meet us where we are. We have a God who is willing and wanting to be with us in our mess, our vulnerability. To share the burden of our wounds and pain. To be with us, alongside us, and within us no matter what is happening.

We have a God who bears the wounds of love. A God who embodies vulnerability. David Whyte reminds us that, “Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without, vulnerability is not a choice, vulnerability is the underlying, ever-present and abiding undercurrent of our natural state.” We have a God who chose to become like us with a body. Embodiment means vulnerability, and vulnerability gives us, and God—the God of relationship—a capacity for deep and meaningful relationships.

Vulnerability is the path to meaning and purpose in life. It creates the space to be authentic and express empathy. Brené Brown points out that vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. And we have a God who showed us how as Jesus hung on the cross, embodying relentless love and vulnerability.

Vulnerability is immensely risky, exceedingly scary, and deeply exposing. Often, we feel naked and small. Exiled and alone. It is here that God bends down and stoops low to wrap us in Love. This becomes the ground where healing and truth join as God is His bended and humble Prescence whispering belonging, acceptance, and innate worthiness.

God embodies a Gumby-like nature to bend and stretch and come face to face with us wherever we are and in whatever condition we experience. Hallelujah!

When have you experienced God bending down and stooping low to be with you?

How might you become vulnerable before God?

I know you will bend down to listen to me. Ps 69:13

Bend low to my whispered cry. Ps 71:2

God of the bended and low

bowing petunias and bending tulips
weeping willows and sagging branches
hovering hens and baby chicks
kneeling mothers and crying children

You descended and stooped
crouching with one caught in naked shame
squatting with one bent in suffered exclusion

bend down and dip low now to listen to my silent screams

I bend over
containing problems and pain
smothering voice and song

I bend away
deformed tangles of decision and motives
desires and memories

suffocated snarls of fear and shame
thick webs of passion and pattern

a chasm grows

bended and low God
pull and untangle
cut and untwist
tend and mend
my whispered cries

I am here to serve your soul in whatever ways you might need or long for … spiritual direction, spiritual companionship, leadership coaching, enneagram coaching, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises guide, and guided retreats. What does your soul need? What does your soul want?

In my messiness, Becky