There are three personal traits that I believe are important to embrace on life's journey: authenticity, transparency and availability.

• Authenticity is related to being genuine - what you see is what you get.
  
• Transparency is related to being open and clear - something through which light can shine.
• Availability is related to being accessible - being both easy to find and quick to respond.

I don't do any of these perfectly - or even well. I'm, at best, as real as I know how to be and more translucent than transparent. I am available - twenty-four/seven available - and have yet to have anyone take advantage of my availability in a negative way.

Today I was blessed to be a part of two encounters that I believe were a direct result of my pursuit of these qualities. The first was a phone call - from someone who rarely calls. It shifted mid conversation from that person's frustration to that person affirming me and the ministry God has graciously called me to live. The second was a private message on a social networking site. This person asked my opinion about something they'd experienced because they've known me a long time, know I'm involved in ministry and they trust me.

Sometimes I get the feeling that people in general, and ministers in particular, have become so protective of 'their' time that encounters like those above don't happen very often.

That's too bad. If I hadn't been relatively authentic, at least translucent and definitely available, I'd have missed out on the opportunity to speak love into the lives of those two people and would have missed some poignant affirmations of my call.

I'm thinking that continuing to pursue authenticity, transparency, and availability is worth it.

Just me,

MB