Looking Myself in the Authentic...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Procrastinating again, I cruised through my bloglovin' feed and read Mary's post with a question ... 'What does Authentic mean to you?'

And I thought I'd dash off a quick little answer in the comment section, but I suddenly found myself writing much more than a comment and peeling back some things I hadn't even realized were overgrown. 

Authentic is...hard.

I try.  I really try.  I don't want to have to maintain something I'm not.  And I really  believe that the best Christian life is one with no pretense about it.

But I'm a Tigger.  Tiggers bounce.  And sometimes they bounce people into the water and don't even know it.  And sometimes those people think it happened on purpose and get their feelings hurt.

Even Tiggers get distressed if they find they've hurt someone.  Especially if they hurt them by bouncing.

Authentic has to be disciplined.

I have had authentic friends...but time passes and people change and while those folks are still good friends all they see now is the cute table on the slightly lumpy rug (that's an analogy from Mary's post).  I don't know if I have anyone in my circle of friends that I would be willing to allow to help me clean under that rug.  And that's not their fault.  It's mine.

Over the years, I have backed away...and now, I keep people at arm's length.

And I just sat and stared at that sentence for a full two minutes.  I  keep people at arm's length.  

Why?

Because I'm less likely to bounce into them...cause them pain...be misunderstood.

That's fear at work.

Fear is never authentic.  It's probably the biggest barrier to authentic.

So, if we say that authentic is what is left after the fear has been removed...we have something that looks a lot like love.

Because perfect love casts out fear like a light casts out darkness.

So...I have to admit something:  if I have fear in my life that is an obstruction to authentic relationships, then I do not have love fully operating in my life.

That's a lot to ponder in the next day or two...or month...