Just Shy of the Truth

November 28, 2022

My heart goes out to those who are shy. It can be very painful and humiliating. I know, because I was very shy my entire childhood, all the way into my late thirties.

Conversation seems so easy to everyone else, when you’re shy. You can never find words quickly, the ones that will fit smoothly into conversation. You convince yourself that others don’t think very highly of you. The more you keep silent, the more you convince yourself that whatever first words you say must be brilliant. You want others to like you, but you’re afraid they won’t especially if they get to know you.

Like any other shortcoming or bad habit, shyness can get so deep and ingrained that we can’t get out of it by ourselves. Sometimes a professional counselor can slowly help you find your way, and that’s a gift from God. There are holes so deep that only God can get us out of them.

My shyness began to ease as I spent years working in retail. (You can’t be shy when helping others meet their needs.) Also, the closer I got to God, the more I naturally shared the joy within me.

I began to realize that I had worth! God treasures me, as much as he does anyone else. As Francesca Battistelli says in one of her songs, “I don’t need my name in lights. I’m famous in my Father’s eyes.” Even after I entered the ministry, my shyness stayed at bay, no matter how good or bad persons in my congregation deemed my skills to be.

I Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”