Real or Unreal

How can we measure who we truly are?

So, yesterday I wrote about forgetting what I look like to myself.  But today I am thinking about what I look like to others.

Most people who knows me would probably agree with a few attributes that I represent:

Outgoing, funny, driven, confident and creative.

But would everyone know that I am also:

Fearful, sensitive, easily offended, and super lazy.

If we judge ourselves based on what other people think of us, it will also be an inaccurate assessment.  Have you ever looked at a detailed picture with a group of people and had everyone tell what they see?  Many people would see the same thing, but everyone would probably also see differences.

So, how can we tell what we look like--inside and out?  Only by thinking on what is true and real.  

And what IS true and real?  Again, what God says.  And what we know for certain, in this moment, without our "what if's" and "I wish I had/hadn't" and "if only's". 

The next time you feel yourself slipping from confidence to cowardice, from control to emotion, from the strength of spiritual mental health to frailty of spirit, review the resources you have as a child of God.  In times of trauma and testing, choose to fill your mind with what is true.  Choose to love God.  Instead of spending time and mental energy analyzing other people's words and actions or second-guessing what they say and do, think on what is true and real.  When you train your thoughts to focus in this way, you experience wonderful peace of mind and heart and sound and sincere connections and communications with others.  As a result, your relationships become characterized by genuine love, a love for others that finds its source in your desire to love God...even more.

-Elizabeth George, Loving God with All Your Mind

I'm considering something right now that would be a huge step of faith.  It is easy to be overcome by fear and doubt and worry.  But when I push out the "what if's" and I see that God takes care of me--then I'm willing to step out and do things that seem too big for me.

Things like starting Take Shape for Life, for example.  I had so many fears and doubts.  Believe me, I did.  Mostly fear of failing.  But I was willing to step out in faith and try it.  And look what God has done!

I always have to bring things back to the Hunger Games, right?  (I love when God uses secular literature to show himself!)  So, of course, I will tie in something I loved from that series to this post.  Katniss and another character play a game called "Real or Unreal" in Mockingjay.  They were having a hard time sorting out what has really happened to them.  So, they played a game where one would state an event and then the other one would say "real" or "unreal."  

I could truly benefit from doing that little exercise in my own life, as I take every thought captive.

I can look in the mirror to know who I am or even how I look.  Unreal.

I cannot look in at others to tell me who I should or shouldn't be.  Real.

I can only look One place to be certain of who I am.  Real. 

God won't catch me or be enough for me if I try something and fail.  Unreal.

"Perfect love casts out fear."  Real.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

-1 John 4:18