Who are ya fooling?

Do you like my great pictures of some pine trees? They're quite a specimen. A rare type called the Cellicus Pineicus (think back to the little definitions that popped up under the Road Runner). This tree only grows in specific climates where local ordinances require that cell phone towers/repeaters look like natural habitat. Did it work? Were you fooled? Where you shocked when I explained that this wasn’t really a tree? At a quick glance, you may have been fooled for a moment, but with some minor study, you knew this was not a tree. Look at the top right and at the pole to help. Seriously, was this coverup necessary? 

We are just like that cell phone tower. We put on cover and hide the real person we are regularly. We put on a work face in the office. We put on a church face in the congregation. We even put on the family face at home sometimes. We try to cover up everything from everyone else.

Why do we do this?

Pride for one.

We don’t want to look bad. We want others to think we have it all together and that we have no flaws. We want our image to be amazing and everyone to look at our awesomeness. We think a lot of ourselves and we want others to also. 

You know what? 

I think that the cell phone tower became more obvious and more of a distraction when they added the crazy disguise. You had to do a double take. You examined it more closely because you thought it might be fake. People do that to us too. When we are trying to be someone we are not, and trying to fake others out, we actually cause scrutiny in our lives that may be worse, and put us under more pressure, making our fakeness more difficult to do. If we are real and act as we should and how we believe, we just live. The coverup becomes more of a distraction to others and you lose impact.

Fear for a second.

We’re afraid that if someone finds out we have a flaw, that they won’t like us or would think badly of us. We all have flaws! We are all human, and we all need help from the Lord and from others. Why be afraid. The ones that would think poorly of you are not really friends anyway, but the ones that step up and help us with our needs and flaws actually love us.  If you are fake, you are not doing any good at all. If you are real, the Lord may use you to change lives.

It’s not about the number of Facebook friends you have, it’s about how you are influencing them with Facebook.

Fakers can be seen and are obvious to those around them. The ones that give the pretend laugh at your great humor (there’s no pretending - we are hilarious!). The folks that look down their nose at you. The lady at the office that checks the clock every time you come or go and then takes a two hour lunch. The guy that beeps at you because he wants to get by and then blocks someone on purpose later. The girl in the youth group that stands up with an awesome testimony, but then has horrible Facebook posts and pics. The man that acts like he has it all together in business, but is dying inside. 

You know what I mean. Don’t put on the Sunday suit to pretend. Be who God made you to be and if you are struggling with something, ask for help, instead of faking everyone out. We all see it anyway and we all know...you'd be surprised how many people see through the fake leaves and see the actual tower...of you. You might also be surprised at how many around you, actual want to help you.

Lessons Learned: Being real impacts lives. Be real, but right. Realize others love you for you, not the fake you.

Thoughts: Who are you trying to fake out? Why?

#failalot