Pretending

Do you feel you wear a mask?

​Do you feel you are one way with the people at work?  One way with the people at church?  One way with family?  One way with high school/college friends?  The list could be endless, but what way are you really?

Struggling with pretending, or as I like to say it, “dressing it up and taking it to church,” or better yet, today’s version, “dressing it up and taking it to Facebook,”  is usually the time when we need a real friend the most.  Insecurities come in and wreck our emotions and self-confidence.  In turn, we feel isolated and alone.

As I share what God has placed on my heart in the last several weeks, please know these are thoughts and convictions that God has revealed to me as I strive each day to be a better person.  The mess in my own life is what has become my dearest heart-felt message.  It is never to condemn or judge (I did that for way too long).  It is to bring a light of encouragement and hope to Moms who are desperately searching for a way to feel good enough.  Good enough as a Mother, good enough as a wife, good enough as a sister and good enough as a friend…these cannot be accomplished on our own!  We were never meant to do life alone.  Jesus came so we can live life to the fullest, and actually enjoy the journey!  John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

The part that saddens me the most is what the world deems to be funny is actually quite sad.  Don’t get me wrong those little minions are hilarious!  However, some of them make me stop and think…”I hope people don’t think of me like that.”  Authors, speakers and even preachers all over the place are trying to hit an audience of many.  However, there is no way to make everyone happy.  So, why are we willing to give up our personal convictions for the sake of impressing someone else?  The mentality of pretending or “fake it till you make it” mentality is not the minority.  So, my question is – why do we do that?  Why do we want to be something we are not? We want REAL relationships in our lives, but yet, we don’t want to be REAL ourselves. People laugh and make jokes, “I just need to drink more.” No, I think we need to face the TRUTH!  If we want a REAL friend, we have to be a REAL friend.

We try with the purest motives to make a difference, but we get misunderstood.  Past heartbreaks disable us from ever really trusting again. Trust becomes an issue with everyone we encounter. So, we put up a wall that won’t let anyone in.  Then…it starts again…pretending.  We all have been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt.  However, I am on a quest to be the real deal, regardless of the past hurts and trust issues.  If we are really going to live this crazy life to the fullest, we cannot constantly live a chameleon lifestyle dependent on who we are around that day.  You have to be OK with you!   I encourage you to make today a day of change; release the fake to embrace the genuine.

The legacy I want to leave will not be determined by how I pretended, but how obediently I followed the One who called me to be REAL…  ​

BE REAL – BE YOU!