Saturday, October 25, 2014

Being real

"We feel it's our Christian duty to look our best.  We can't afford to show our flaws.  Let's give the world (and each other) the airbrushed version of ourselves as proof that the Christian life really works." ~The gospel of Ruth by Carolyn Curtis James

While enjoying a restful weekend at the Red sea I was catching up on a couple of books and ran across this quote.  At the moment I didn't want to use the brain power to blog my thoughts but now that I am held captive and awake for the remaining 4 and a half hours of an 11 hour flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles... I thought I would share my thoughts!

This particular quote hit me with quite force as I do consider myself a follower of Christ.  How many times do I act a certain way because of what I think others expectations of me are? Most of the time these expectations are put on us by ourselves...  you know what I mean...

....putting on a happy face and claiming that everything is fine when your world is falling apart...

...saying something because you know it is what the person wants to hear versus what is really the truth...

...acting a certain way because it's 'normal' and what is expected only to hide your own personality...

...setting rules that limit what you can or can't do because of what people may say...

Do you see where I am going with this? We live in an airbrushed culture where normal or being real is not good enough and I want to challenge that mindset.  Anyone who knows me ... knows I don't do the normal thing well.  I am tired of being put on a pedestal of others expectations where I can't be the real me.  Christ did not come to set up a museum of all these perfect creations on display...  he came to set the captives free.  I, for one, am a captive of living in rules and regulations and others expectations that have kept me from living to my greatest potential.

Recently I met a dear person that helped me understand the freeing concept of being loved for me... in who God made me to be... including all my flaws... and craziness.  We have gotten so good as a society at putting a front on of 'perfection' that we have forgotten what real looks like.  I don't want to be an airbrushed model on a pedestal for display but a real friend that comes alongside to model what it looks like to live this thing called life the way Christ intended.

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