Be Real

Honestly, is anybody else tired of pretending like we have it all together?  Or denying how messy life really is?

Is anybody else longing to answer the question,  




with a gut wrenching, sobbing, snotty all over the face, truth-filled confession?

I used to be able to do that.  All the time.  Total transparency.  It was what I vowed I'd always do -- a vow made by an angry little girl, frustrated at her mother yelling at her one minute and answering the phone with such sweet sing-song words the next...

Hello.


How could she be so angry and so nice in a millisecond of time?  Hah, I've since learned it is pretty easy if you push the right buttons.  Nevertheless, back then I vowed I'd be either mean to everyone or nice to everyone.  I wasn't so good a being nice, however, so I choose mean.  It didn't really work out for me in the long run.  So instead, I modified the vow.  I would be real. 

What you see is what you get. 

That worked for a while, too.  Or so I thought, until some point a year or two ago. My eyes were opened, when I began to experience life on the other side of "how are you?" -- when someone's problems came flowing into my reality.  An innocent "how are you" should have been answered with "fine," considering our relationship.  Sometimes, we're not suppose to respond to a friendly greeting with divulging our problems.  Sometimes, there are only a select few the Lord has put in place to support us through the tough stuff.  And sometimes, He's the only one we are to pour out our soul and heart to in prayer.

But sometimes, I just want to be real again.  Transparent from HELLO.

I want to go back to the days of thinking that "how are you" really meant "HOW ARE YOU?"  I don't want to accept the fact that this question isn't meant to solicit a literal response. 

I want to reveal my deepest fears.  My disappointments with God.  My days of little faith.  My failures and miscomings. 

And I want to know yours.

I want to take off the masks.  Confess our sin.  Live together transparently.

Yet how do we this?

How can we be real with one another -- in real life and in the blog world -- without burdening one another beyond reason? 

How can we function together as the body, without depending on another part -- a limb, say -- more than the Head, Christ?

How?