Window Dressing

Have you ever noticed a nice outfit that looks so pretty on the rack, but when you try it on, you just don’t look like you thought you would in it?  Maybe it's the pattern or the way it is cut.  Maybe it’s those few extra pounds that you’ve been meaning to shed.  Whatever it is, you just don’t love it enough to buy it.

Sometimes life feels like this too. Not everything fits as it should.  We know how we want things to look, how they are supposed to be.  But if we’re honest, how things are does not always match up with what we want.  Something is off.  We’re in need of a tide to turn, a hurt to heal, a provision to be met.  

We’re always longing for something, aren’t we?

Even the happiest people I know or admire, have issues.  We are constantly challenged in ways we can’t anticipate.  Everyday, life throws us curves and we must contend with them.  We have bills to pay.  Our nails break. Our appliances, our cars, our relationships, and sometimes health, need care and fixing.  It seems we no sooner get one thing on track, and another presents itself.

To be authentic, we must stop pretending that everything is meant to look perfect. 

I’ve come to understand that some people are good at window dressing. They look good.  They act the part.  They have nice things to say.  They can be charming, funny, the first one complement you on a new hair style.  But when it comes to substance, the shovel doesn’t go very deep.  There is a lack of empathy, of honesty, of character.  For some, looking the part is much more important than living it.  This is sad.

I’ve known people who have traded all they had because they were in search of a perfection that doesn’t exist.  They have burned bridges, forsaken loved ones, given in to sin, ran after illusions and addictions that all looked good at the time, but in the end have left them empty. They are looking in a fun house mirror and expecting to see only what they want to see.

The truth is, happiness is an inside job.  It requires learning to do the work within us so that the reflection of who we are on the outside is congruent with who we are within.  We can dress ourselves up to look like we have it all together, but when we are are broken on the inside, it still shows.

We have to be kind.  Be faithful.  Be accountable.  Be loving… We can’t fake it.  Who we really are will always shine through.

God sees in us who He created us to be.  When we get honest, when stand in the nakedness of our dysfunctions, we can hand over to Him the things that aren’t working.  We can stop caring what things look like, and just admit how things are.  We need help to stop hiding behind false personas and expectations that just don’t fit us anymore.  

We have to get real to heal. 

The Spirit of God is the great revealer.  It fills in the cracks in our mirrors.  In the reflection of our faith, we can see that we are loved for who we are and not for who we wish were.  God made us perfectly imperfect.  He doesn’t expect us to always have it right.  He expects us to need Him, to seek Him, to trust Him for all that concerns us.

We aren’t intended to be a mannequin, all dressed up but hollow on the inside.  We are supposed to get out there and live life.  We’re going to trip and fall and bruise and bleed.  We’re going to make mistakes, eat too much, love people who don’t love us back, buy things that are not on sale… We’re going to have good days and bad, feast and famine. 

But when we look in the mirror, when we have given it our all, when we know that we are doing our best to live authentically, we are living our best life regardless of how it looks to others. 

It’s okay if things are not perfect.  One size doesn’t always fit all.  

Smile and know the truth.  

You are beautiful, inside and out.