Authenticity ~

 As I've gotten older more flaws come to the surface.

I'm not talking visual things.

I'm speaking of the heart, of the words I use, in the behaviors I practice.
Those things that had followed me through my history,
those things keeping me from being authentic.

For many years I claimed to be a Christian yet not much in my life would

have indicated that to anyone.

My decision to become a Christian was sincere.

What I didn't know is that without learning more about

my faith, there wouldn't likely be growth,

therefore no reason to  

 changing attitudes and behaviors and starting healthier ones.
Becoming authentic.

People from my past that knew me...you really did know me.

What you likely didn't see was the me I wanted to be, the me I 

was trying to be when I was with my "Church friends".

I hadn't invested myself in the time it took to discover
 that growing in my Christianity was my road to authenticity

  If you put it to the test the belief couldn't be more true.

Hard to deny something when it actually works.

~

Among the many great things about admitting 

your weakness and vulnerability  is that it is so relaxing.

 I don't have to be a fake any more.

Dan Hayes

 I was disguised as living the good life with my friends.

I was in another on Sundays at church.

My heart felt it, but nothing much reflected my faith to others.
I wasn't allowing it to grow in me,
which prevented me from being authentic in my faith.

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others

 that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

 ~

Would I lose friends because of my faith if they saw the new reflection?
 As I began to grow in my faith and lose the disguise,
I have lost some friends.

They weren't comfortable with "the new me".

My authentic friendships are still around,

happy they can see a happier me!

I'm still me, I had just become more authentic.

Because I have a strong faith doesn't mean I'm not me any more,
I'm still the same kind of friend to you now as then....

I'm just a happier me.
I let go of the old things about me and put on the new.
A fresh start if you will.....

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, 
the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost 
and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins. –
Mark 2:22

 Jesus the something new in me, (the new wine)

which would be lost if nothing about me became new in order to hold on to it.

 Expecting the new to thrive in the old ways of me.

Not likely....

 ~

I'm real, I'm becoming more authentic daily.

Because I have stepped up to my faith,

does not, by the way,

mean that I am judging anyone else.

Yet,

 some will judge me because I am secure

 in talking about my faith and living it.

I'm not pushing it on you,

I'm not

 insisting you believe.
I've just no desire to be hypocritical about it.
 Allow me to believe, 

allow me 

to be the real me....

the happier me!

I want my faith to be reflected in how I live my life.

In the things I say, in my heart and in my behaviors.

 ~

 You want to mess up the minds of your children? Here's how - guaranteed!

 Rear them in a legalistic, tight context of external religion,

 where performance is more important than reality. 

Fake your faith. Sneak around and pretend your spirituality.

 Train your children to do the same. 

Embrace a long list of do's and don'ts publicly

  but

 hypocritically practice them privately... 

yet never own up to the fact that its hypocrisy.

 Act one way but live another. 

And you can count on it - 

 emotional and spiritual damage will occur.

Charles (Chuck) Swindoll

~

Oh how I wish I had read that so many, many years ago.......

~

I hear from many that they feel

 those in the church are hypocrites.

They are partially correct, some are.

There are hypocrites everywhere,

 including in the church, and

what a perfect place for them to be!

The hope is they are learning what their
 faith is really all about. 

When one attempts to really live it,

authentically,

the hypocricsy begins to leave....

at which time they too become " a happier them".

As I did...

So full of the truth,

they no longer have to fake anything.

~

Hypocrites in the Church? 

Yes, and in the lodge and at the home.

 Don't hunt through the Church for a hypocrite. 

Go home and look in the mirror. 

 Hypocrites? 

Yes. 
See that you make the number one less.

Billy Sunday 

~

If you practice anything, I hope it's being authentic 

in what you say you are.

Saying what we are doesn't not make it so,

walking what you talk,

that is authentic.

Thankful I chose a fresh start on the new me.

 The same publicly,

 as privately.

Doesn't make me perfect and doesn't mean I think I am.
I've still plenty of work to do on me.....

 Simply me striving to be more authentic daily....
"Making the number one less!"

 Authenticity, is what echos from my heart today.