I’m a Christian and I Swear Occasionally

I am a fan of Grace Biskie. I first read her work on A Deeper Story and continue to find myself drawn to her honesty, rawness and commitment to being real. The beauty in her writing is that is she works to let us all know it is ok to be who we are and express what’s going on inside.

In her post I’m a Christian and I Swear Occasionally, Grace addresses her choice to use strong language in her postings in light of a reader negatively commenting on it’s use. I think she eloquently shares her word choice and also highlights that this is a form of her coping in the midst of her journey. I respect, understand and live with my own forms of this so I sincerely appreciate it as well.

As it relates to swearing, my thought is this. I get we’re called to be holy, I also think a lot of people get that mixed up with being flawless models of propriety. Sinners saved by grace aren’t perfect, we just decided to follow the Messiah and take on his countenance. But sometimes we get angry or emphatic or whatever and use a cuss word because it has the power we need to express our point. I’m neither validating nor invalidating this but pointing it out as a reality.

At the end of the day, we need to give each other the freedom to tell our stories in our way because authenticity is what’s missing in a lot of relationships. I know I personally am freer with the friends and family who I can be fully me with. They accept my f-bombs and ugly cries in addition to my love and presence. They get to journey with me because I don’t put on any levels of pretense with them and in return they are real with me.

Brennan Manning said “Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Judas could not face his shadow; Peter could. The latter befriended the impostor within; the former raged against him.”

If we fail to accept who we are, how can we love on others wholly different from us? It’s only in acceptance that we can acknowledge and at some point address our issues even if it means that in the present, that thing is used to cope.

May God bless Grace and all like her, May we find the courage to share our stories and may the realness of our respective presences be a blessing regardless of how we choose to express.