How Hard is it to be Real?

Do you hide? I do. Maybe everyone does. Sometimes it's so hard to be real - to show who you truly are. It requires you to face your hurts, shortcomings, and foibles unflinchingly. It requires you to put yourself out there in all your nakedness, let people to see who you truly are and risk them rejecting you.

I think that we as an American society shy away from reality. It's too bright, too stark. We want things polished and our problems wrapped up in a neat 30 minute sitcom bow. We want our burgers bigger and our houses immaculate. Advertising and mass media tells us life can be much more vibrant than our own. And in a lot of ways, living in the "real world" seems like a betrayal of the American Dream. I think reality is so hard because we see so little of it around us.

To be real in our lives, our relationships, our Christianity requires us to be almost counter-cultural. It asks us to live a life that will make many of those around us uncomfortable at best and probably antagonistic. To be real will mean swimming upstream against the tide of consumerism and façade's. It is gut-wrenchingly hard. When it comes down to it, it really makes you wonder is it worth it to be real? Let me leave you with one thought: The more you hide the less people love and accept the real you.