Ssssshhhhhhh.

Remain unspoken.

That’s what shame orders you to do.

What shames you silences you. And silence compels you to disappear.

Shame is not to be mistaken with remorse or regret or sorrow. Shame is condemnation.

It’s damnation.

Your mistakes, shortcomings, and failures sentence you to a life of silence.

You’re cast to the shadows of normalcy, living on the periphery of joy. You’re a spectator of the living.

The portrait of shame is this: head down and stepping back. Be nonexistent or at the very least in the process of becoming so.

How dare you smile, seem forgiven, be free?

Be wary of those who compel you to feel ashamed, those who say, “Have you no shame?!”

Yes, actually, I have tons of it.

But what I choose to have more of is forgiveness, repentance and redemption.

Shame won’t be the chains that bind me to a nonexistent life.

And as I step out of its shadows, I must remember to not then throw my shame cloak on someone else.

I must not make my mistakes the new acceptable threshold of grace, and those who stray beyond those bounds be deemed shameful.

So, I’ll leave with this. Live and let live.
We all make mistakes, all sin, and often wish we didn’t.

So let’s live our lives shamelessly, freely and out of the darkness of our pasts. And pretty please let’s let others do the same.

Hope this helps!
Ambini