Do you desire intimacy? There is a normal human longing for connection. Do you think of this only in sexual terms? That is one aspect, but the concept is broader and not limited to that. What are the barriers to intimacy? There are many, but one is the presentation of a perfect and complete image. This is a false way of presenting yourself, and there can be no intimacy without vulnerability. You need some acknowledged flaws and rough edges for people to hang on to. It isn’t easy to grasp a full inflated balloon. Can you let some of the air out of yourself so you can connect with others?

When you pray for someone and they are healed, who gets the credit? Logic would suggest that if the healing occurs after you arrive and after you pray, then it was because of your prayer. Yet when I prayed for people and they were healed I said to them that your faith (not mine) has made you whole. Are you more eager to see them healed or to get recognition for it? This is an area in which the Kingdom of Heaven is different from this world. You know that God is the ultimate healer, and yet people are involved in this process.

Are you looking for validation? Who doesn’t like to be affirmed? Are you in the right state for validation, or should you work toward improvement before validation is appropriate? If you know that you are not where you could be or should be would it be better to make some progress before looking for approval? But can you wait for the completion of your development before getting approval? For this is a lifelong process. Acceptance may be a better goal than validation. Are you content to be accepted now, even as a work in progress, as you move ahead toward full maturity?

Do you earn your living at a desk or work with your hands? It takes a large workforce to construct the buildings and keep the lights on and the water flowing and the food grown and delivered and everything else essential to modern life, but there is a greater and greater divide between those who work with words, and those who work with their hands. Are those with advanced education capable of being arrogant and condescending toward those who do not? Those who labor may not qualify as the least of these but life as you know it depends on their service.