By AbbyA

Authenticity.  I am thinking about looking into someone’s eyes.  Rather simple.  We do it in conversation.  Over dinner.  The eyes are a window into the inner thoughts and soul of a person.

There are some eyes that have the gift of seeing the inside of you just by looking briefly into your own eyes.  You know this person, this gift, because even if you know them  – – surfacely – – even if they are an acquaintance – – when they look at you and you at them, you have to choose.

At that glancing moment, you can look away or look back.  If you look back, you have given them a window of opportunity.  They will see into your heartstrings.  The thoughts and feelings that you hold below the surface will be told to them through the language of the eyes.  But, if you look away, they will have known anyway that you have hidden within yourself your authenticity.

Your authenticity.  It is so easy to slant it.  Stuff it.  Perform it.  Deny it.  Look away and pretend that your heartstrings are playing to a happy song.  So easy to pretend that your inner thoughts are in complete harmony with your outer appearance.

Your authenticity.  It is your greatest mark of your individualism.  Your unique blueprint.  The greatest evidence of our Sovereign God.  And, we, in our great wisdom, decide to mask it, hide it, run from it.  Stuff it, slant it.  Deny it and perform it.

I know why.  We all know why.  There is a part of ourselves that is like a dryer.  It spins around – – sometimes you find a sock of shame.  Dirty underwear.  Embarrassing stains and soils.  Undergarments that make us feel self-conscious.  Rips and tears that show our age and maturity.  Tags that reveal both wealth and size.  We’ve all got our laundry spinning around in the dryer.

Authenticity.  It’s spinning.  No one knows, after the cycle, what will show up missing or later found.  No one really feels like hanging shirts or sorting socks.  No one likes wrinkles or pink-whites or crayon stains.  But we’ve all got it spinning in the dryer.

Authenticity.  You’ve got a Maker and a friend.  The Maker already knows your imperfections and your friend has some version of your own dirty laundry anyway.  Why not take a chance on the real you?  Why not take a chance with the one version of you that God felt so strongly about, so lovingly about, that He stamped you into time.  Authenticity, why not?