One of my favorite jazz standards is the title of this post. Not to take anything away from John Legend, this is the standard (see what I did there) when taking about these three words.
You took the part
That once was my heart
So why not, why not take all of me!
I just finished a conference call with several ministerial colleagues. During said call, I was able to be me. The real me.
There are several sides to the real me. There is the administrative professional – I will keep you in line and on task, especially when my name is on the signature line.
There is the reading snap queen. I was trained by the best, and I’m too old to be a princess. Besides, my mother has been gone to the other side of glory for more than a decade.
There is the quiet, shy kid. Yes, even at this stage in my life, I am still shy at times.
There is the wine connoisseur. Thank God and Goddess for spell check. I would have normally just said “wino”.
There is the married (oh crap, I AM married), openly gay, ordained minister, who actually gets to name and claim his husband. Wow.
But all of that melds together to form me.
Tonight, I got to display all of those parts, and in so doing, I realized – I have always been more than ready and more than enough. I just needed the world (and the church) to catch up.
It’s been a good day.
Rev. Guy S. Johnson 