Being vulnerable is an exercise of spiritual strength.

Strength is an active process. It is not just a descriptive word of what one has or what one realizes is needed. You are given strength as you reach out. You give strength as you reach out and embrace. You give strength when you pray on behalf of others and their needs. It is not necessary for the one for whom you pray to know of the strength you are offering, for you reach out in spirit, and that spirit is responded to in love. You reach out, another reaches up, and you meet. You reach out in need, and others reach toward you, and you meet. Strength, therefore, is not necessarily a recognition of presence, of a capacity to affirm others. Strength is then your acknowledgment of needs and your embrace of the arms of those who reach outward to you.

It is not a matter of weakness to be vulnerable. On the contrary, understanding one’s vulnerability is an exercise of spiritual strength. Whether it is because of the need to be strengthened or the desire to offer such strength, the core of spiritual strength is the outreach of love.

If you feel a kind of hollowness caused by loss, it is in reaching out to embrace the love of others that you are strengthened. At times when you are especially vulnerable, you may occasionally question where God is, but the answer to such probing concerns is that God is everywhere. Open your arms and let the light of others be brought in to illuminate your own path.