Perceptions

Suppose I told you that I just went for a thirty-minute walk, sat and relaxed for around ninety minutes, ate a snack, took a nap, and met a stranger.

Immediately, your imagination goes to the sort of utopia-like scenarios I am creating in your mind’s eye. We both can hear your own thoughts as you read this.

“Was the nap on a hammock outside?”

“Was the snack a piece of fruit? Was it ice cream? Cookies?”

“Is the stranger now considered to be more than a just mere acquaintance?”

“How can I do what Richard gets to do? That sounds like a lovely day!”

Indeed, it does sound like a lovely day. It sounds like Julie Andrews as Fräulein Maria, frolicking in the mountainy Austrian countryside. Like Patrick Dempsey, Amy Adams, and dozens of extras singing in Central Park. Like the residents of Oz singing about a horse of a different color.

But what I will tell you about my day will most likely change all of that.

I was on a plane, flying somewhere for work.

Wait…what?

Yep. On a plane. Reclining at about a three-degree-off-vertical slant, eating a microscopic bag of pretzels and having half a can of Coke in a tiny plastic cup, with ice (legit cold-can or cold-bottle Coke people can relate to what an atrocity this really is), making the awkward-but-expected (which makes it even more awkward) small talk with the person sitting way too close to me, getting in a four-minute nap (until the flight attendant bumped into my knee with the trash cart), and walking thirty minutes to a connecting flight.

That changes everything, doesn’t it?

Notice that I didn’t lead with that fact. I lead with all of the actions that are included in many flights. I didn’t lie to you, but I did withhold some key points that really define the day I had.

So it is with our InstaLife. Social media has allowed all of us to paint the utopian picture that everything is great, that we are often something we are not, and that we are often not something that we really are.

I think that was one of the things that resonated with so many people when we walked out Katie’s journey. People were drawn to the raw-ness, the pain, the hurt. We weren’t trying to monopolize or monetize our situation, but we weren’t trying to candy-coat it, either.

We were just being real.

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I’m real. Those who know me know not to ask my opinion unless they are willing to hear the truth. I just can’t help it. I’ve tried all the positive confessions, the faith statements, the prosperity-claiming, and it left me feeling fake, feeling like it made me feel like a hypocrite.

It’s just not who I was.

It’s just not who I am.

I used to get accused of being “carnal,” because I didn’t Christian-speak, because I didn’t adhere to the social norms of southern United States evangelicalism, because I didn’t flaunt my spirituality.

I’m not downing anyone who does any of that, but I am saying that it’s just not me. And it’s just not Daphne (thank the LORD, thank the LORD, THANK THE LOOOOORRRRDDDDD!!!!). And guess what? It’s not Kylie, either, and it certainly wasn’t Katie.

And I don’t say these things to puff up my family members or myself. Sometimes, I wish I could be more compassionate, less “real,” more loving, less “truthie.” But, alas, I just can’t seem to do it. But I do know this: anything and everything I have and have accomplished is a result of the grace of God at work in my life. Period. End of story.

But I digress. Back to the point at hand.

We must be careful to not portray ourselves as something we are not, as something that is better than us, as something that can cause any amount of disillusionment in others. Some days are just plain hard. It’s okay to admit that that. Some days, it may feel like the entire world is against you, and that’s okay, too. Jesus had many of those days, and He promised that we’d have them, as well.

So, with that said, what if, instead of painting this picture-perfect world of our picture-perfect lives, we just got real? Real with ourselves, real with our friends, real with our God? Perhaps we could stem the tide of having the reputation of Christian-fake. Perhaps, in the real-ness, God could shine down His goodness, and really make something of a bad situation, instead of us always feeling the need to cover it up.

Perhaps.

I want to further commit myself to being real. To giving God all the glory He deserves in every situation, but also being honest when things aren’t great. After all, it’s in our weakness that He is made strong, and I want (need) Him ever stronger and stronger in me.