Scripture
Psalm 139: 23 - 24
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Galatian 1: 10
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Matthew 15: 8
“These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
Reflection
I have been wondering lately, a lot, about what it means to be authentic, or true to one’s self. I suppose that this is rather appropriate as we just finished up with Halloween, a day when many dress as someone, or something, else. What does it mean to be authentic?
In the Psalm the Psalmist is asking God to help them align their innermost thoughts with their outside presentation of who they are, who they present to the world. Meanwhile, in Matthew Jesus is speaking of those who act one way towards the world, but inside it is something very different. Again it speaks to the idea of being authentic and yet there is more to being authentic than what we do and how we act. There is also the expectations of those around us and the expectations of the world.
I have been struggling lately and wondering about the idea of who we are in the world and how the world perceives each one of us. As I have struggled with this idea I have come to the realization that often the world imposes upon each of us ideas of who we should be. We are told that we are, or have to be, a certain person, that we should be acting a certain way, that there are certain roles that we must fulfill, ways that we have to act, that we need to ‘on’ each and every day. But what happens when we are not ‘on?’ What I mean by that is what happens when we don’t fulfill the expectations of those and the world around us. What happens when the funny one is sad? What happens when the compassionate one is struggling to find compassion? What happens when the one that always seems to be in control, loses control? What really happens when we fail to meet the expectations of the world, or our loved ones?
I believe that there are often times when we don’t fulfill the expectations of the world the world works harder to impose those expectations onto us. When we change and grow, the world, oftentimes, does not understand that change and works at reverting us to who we were before, or how we acted before. Each time this happens it can chip away at our understanding of ourselves and chip away are our self esteem. It is almost as if we do not have the permission to be who we really are, or who we have grown into, that we have to be who everyone else thinks we need to be. We can come to question who we are versus who the world says we should be. We can even lose sight of ourselves and only see the roles that the world imposes upon us.
To be authentic is to know that we, each one of us, was created within the fabric of this wonderfully diverse thing that we call creation. As such, we too are diverse creations who feel the whole range of emotions, who live a whole range of experience, and who continue to become throughout our whole lives. To give people the freedom to be who they are, and who they are becoming. To give oneself the grace to be who you are, the whole range of who you are, and who you are becoming, that is to live in the love of God. To understand that each of us is a unique creation of a mysterious, sacred, loving God. To understand that you yourself are on a journey to be who you were created to be, is to live within the love of God. To feel your anger, your sadness, your lament, your fear, your joy, your laughter, your giddiness, to feel all of who you are at any given moment, that is to live in the love of God. To be and allow others to be as they were created, that is living in the love of God. So, don’t always be ‘on’ for you do not always have to be ‘on,’ it is okay to not be okay sometimes, it is okay to change and grow, and discard what no longer works for you and who you are becoming, just continue on this journey that we call life.
Prayer
God if Infinite Diversity, help us to remember that we were created to be diverse, unique, and growing individuals. Help us to see others not as the world says that they must be, but as they truly are in the world. Give us the grace to know that we can’t always be ‘on’ and that is okay. Give us the courage to break away from who society says we must be to become who you created us to be. We ask this in the name of the one who came to show us a new way, your son, Jesus. Amen.
Commentaires