Authentic

I'm feeling pretty refreshed since having vented to you, blogging world, about my current struggles.Thinking about having baring my soul to you, dear reader, makes me think about something I just read:

In C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader, after Eustace is overcome with greed, he turns into a dragon. When Aslan rips off the dragon skin with a stroke of his paw, Eustace compares it to the childhood joy of picking a scab. It hurts like billy-oh, but it is such fun to see it coming away." When we remove out false selves, repentance creates integrity. We return to the real source of love--our Heavenly Father. We become authentic.

Paul Miller wrote that in a chapter in one of his books (The Praying Life). I referenced that book in my last post. It is really shaking up my prayer life...really, shaking up life for me in general. Love it. I love that God desires for us to be authentic. He wants us to come as we are, but He has declared we should not stay as we are; He's changing us. It's a slow process, but in the end, we will not be as we once were. 

I love authentic people. I loathe the fake. Just be you, for cryin' out loud. I know that is so easy for some and oh-so difficult for others. I'd much rather be real with people and have to work out issues because I've been honest about where I am and who I am than to never engage people on a real and meaningful level because I was wearing some silly mask.

Being authentic is risky, but I think it's worth it.