Marc and I were passing a local hospital a couple of days ago and he commented, “It looks pretty but they’re broke.” This hospital recently had a facelift, lots of money poured into the exterior of the building to give it beautiful curb appeal. It’s inviting. I haven’t been inside this particular hospital recently so I am not sure what improvements have been made on the interior parts but word on the streets is that it has no funds to support the workings that take place within. What good is a beautiful hospital building if it can’t afford to treat the patients it houses and the doctors, nurses, and hospital staff that serve there?
No good at all!
How many things in our worlds look good on the outside but are a total wreck on the inside?
We are a culture committed to our appearance. It is evident from every magazine cover and Instagram selfie. We want to look good, and there’s a lot of pressure to do so. My favorite posts on social media are the ones that leak with authenticity. They challenge me and encourage me!
My most recent favorite:
A friend of mine posted a picture with her daughter spending time together covered in avocado facial mask.
It was beautiful, daring and honest.
Looking good is an idol.
I’m not talking about coloring gray hair, covering dark circles, or fasciablasting cellulite…I’m talking about hiding the real you, holding back what others need to see and hear, shrouding the truth about who you are because you fear what others might think.
The world needs the real you – not the looking good you!
I have taught inner healing classes for years now and although the material is good and promotes the healing of deep places in the soul, the most healing thing that happens in the class is when real women share their real stories with one another. Brene Brown calls this courage which is defined as “telling the story of who I am with my whole heart!”
There is something so powerful about not feeling so alone in my own mess. The Bible reminds us in Ecclesiastes 1:9 “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” We think we are unique, the only one with such pain and shame about the things we have done in our past until we hear another woman share her story and it sounds alot like ours. The devil is not that creative, he is limited in the ways he deceives us. He uses the same junk with all of us and it’s liberating to hear another’s story and feel understood and not so dang bad about ourselves!
Don’t let him steal from you another day!
Your story is important, it frees us all!
This world needs the real you – would the real you please stand up?!
“undress your soul take a picture
show off what is in side
show the world what you are really made of
stop hiding
and be what is within your soul
let the true you shine” – Scarlett
