Be Fearlessly Authentic
Photo Credit: Ryan Mcguire, via Pixabay
She looked at me across the table with a question in her eyes.
We were the two Latin girls in room full of Gringos. She was trying to describe a difficult someone, and she couldn’t think of how to accurately express her sentiments in English.
“Disfraces. Se pone muchos disfraces,” she verbalized in her native tongue.
I smiled knowingly. “He likes to masquerade,” I interpreted for the group.
Hypocrisy is so ugly.
On the way home after our Bible study, I mentioned to my husband how much I was enjoying our new Tuesday night family of eight.
“Everyone is a real person,” I observed. “They aren’t scared to tell the truth, and they aren’t trying to impress anyone.”
It’s so refreshing to break bread with people who are fearlessly authentic.
Something to think about…
Being authentic is best, but for someone who’s naturally reticent – like me – it can be a bit of a handicap. I come across as cold and aloof (I do look pretty forbidding), and I’m really not that way at all. I ‘put on’ the guise of a more sociable person to set others at ease.
I have been told that ‘acting as if’ will leach down into my persona, and the disguie will become the reality. I hope so.
This –> ‘It’s so refreshing to break bread with people who are fearlessly authentic.’
Yes, yes, Lyli.
And can be so hard to find …
Authenticity what a concept. It is abundantly refreshing when we are around people who we can trust to speak truth and grace. Yesterday I was reading Philippians 4, thinking on those things things that are true and lovely and of a good report. When authenticity is the byline, it is so much easier to speak those things to one another.
Blessings!
Dawn
Love this: “Everyone is a real person. They aren’t scared to tell the truth, and they aren’t trying to impress anyone.”
I think what I really loved most about this post is this > It was when she was completely herself, speaking her native language, that she was able to best express herself. May we be our “native” selves – that whom He brought into being.
Authenticity is definitely a gift that we give others, give ourselves. May we each receive it with grace when others give it to us, like your group gives to each other. Love this, Lyli.
Nothing like authenticity and learning how to be so. It is such a gift to give yourself and others. May others be blessed by your authenticity =)
Sounds like a blessed group, Lyli! God seems to bring us together, in His perfect timing. I’ve had a few groups like that over the years. EnJOY!
I have been craving others being real. We are all sinner saved by grace, let’s not pretend to have it all together, ya know? Loving this post!
Lyli, when I’ve read this Scripture in the past, I always took the meaning of ‘falsehood’ as ‘lies.’ But masquerading–or pretending we’re something we’re not–that is the lie, isn’t it?
Your short and sweet thoughts always penetrate, my friend.