Lean on Me: Lessons in Vulnerability

Vulnerability. when you hear this word what comes to mind? Is it weakness, struggling, strength, success? I would venture to say that along with myself before I really experienced vulnerability, most of you thought of the negative connotations this word carries. Vulnerability as weakness, vulnerability as something that is a marker of an unsuccessful or very negative experience. I am currently on a 10 month long journey in France, in which I am an aupair, living about ten minutes by train from Paris. This essentially means that I experience the French culture, while working for a French family who pays room and board and a small salary.
Since I have been here, my eyes have been opened to the concept of vulnerability and forced me question what it is. I have seen vulnerability in many forms; in my own life, in the homeless, busking population of Paris, and in society in general. The song “Lean on Me” immediately came to mind when I was thinking about how I would present these thoughts. I think that this very secular song has a great deal of information for us as Christians. It preaches a message that vulnerability is not a problem, but more importantly that we all have moments of vulnerability in our lives, no matter how blessed we are.
As Christians, our role model to lead a Christian lifestyle, Jesus Christ provides (among other things) a specifically powerful lesson when it comes to vulnerability. Jesus voluntarily entered into life. Ultimately he died because he knew nothing else but to be passionately vulnerable to the plan that God had for him. In terms of relating this to my experience I will start with how I have been vulnerable. I have moved away from family, friends, a girlfriend and everything that I knew and loved, because I felt called. Truthfully, there are thousands of reasons why I would have stayed at home, but I went. I am still vulnerable but I have learned many important life lessons along the way. I will be moving out of the family’s home in the next couple of weeks, and into my own apartment, (hard enough in a country that I am familiar with), and for the first time in my life I will be living alone. My relationship with God is what I have to rely on, and I need to be vulnerable to the lessons I am learning in order to succeed in this new, and sometimes scary environment.
Secondly, I have learned so much more to respect the homeless, and busking population that I have really never been confronted with before. I come from a small village of 1000 people, where everyone knows everyone and I have lived there my entire life. All of a sudden I am in a city of three million where my mother tongue is not the language spoken. I have to rely on public transportation, and I experience first hand the big city life, including homelessness, busking, and other big city characteristics. Homeless people and people who display their musical gifts, or dress up in funny costumes, show me an unbelievable level of vulnerability.

They have given up whatever pride they may have had and rely on others often to just survive. The Parisian people, in general are very unresponsive to this incredible sacrifice, and walk by without a second glance.
If we really reflect on the words of the chorus of “Lean on Me” I think that we can learn a lot and implement it into how we live our lives as Christians. First of all I think it is admitting that yes, we do all have times in our lives where we have pain, and sorrow, and it is okay to not be “strong” all the time. Secondly, it is having that person in your life, or people, or God, or all of the above, to help you in your need. And finally, in return, being there for those people when they need you most of all. This way people get along, and response to the question of vulnerability is not: “I can't believe that, that busker is so stupid to give up all his pride to make a couple dollars on the metro,” but becomes “Wow! He/she is completely submitting to the hand that they have been dealt in life, and have the courage to do everything that they can do to live life to the fullest.” This is the mentality that we are called to have as Christians, and it is the mentality that will change the world for the better. Hindrance? Blessing? You tell me.
-Jesse Root