We come alive to our humanity when we die to safe fantasies. Ironically, we stop pretending when we start using our imaginations. When we imagine a life where truth and beauty live without tension. I think this is JesusÕ point whenever he invites us to deny ourselves, pick up crosses, and follow him. Learning to act like humans requires leaving behind our old self, denying certain longings of that self, and becoming something real and brand new. ItÕs seeing a realm, perhaps invisible to others, where forgiveness is not weakness, weakness is not shameful, and shame is never the end of the story.