Daydreamer's Journey: Appearances

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

FACE.me Day Challenge

Confession time.

I am a perfectionist.

Unfortunately the trait didn’t come with the skills to back up my idealism in most areas of my life. But one thing I can control is how I present myself to the world. Even if my life is far from perfect, I can put on my mask of perfection and create the illusion that I have it all together.

I don’t leave the house without flawless make-up. You’ll never catch me at the store in my yoga pants. And if you ask me how I’m doing, I’ll probably smile and say everything’s fine. Even if my life’s about to come apart at the seams.

Somewhere along the way, I became so focused on keeping up appearance that I failed to recognize the deceit in the practice. I withhold myself from people who are trying to form a connection with me because I’m afraid they might see the truth. I’m a mess.

I don’t want to be a mess. I want to be perfect. I want to be the kind of person God can use. And why would he want the messy, frazzled, imperfection that I am without the mask?

But God’s been showing me something lately through His word. He didn’t use any perfect people. As a matter of fact, everyone He used was flawed by my standards.

God doesn’t use perfection. He uses transparency. He wants to show the beauty of the transformation process through the mess.

And what ever made me think I know how to better present perfection and beauty than the Lord of Lords and King of Kings? I am created in His image. He molded me exactly how he wanted me. And maybe he gave me a generous dose of creativity in place of my share of organizational skill because he has a purpose for that in my life.

So today, I’m joining FACE.me day and I’m taking off the mask. Psalm 139:14 says I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made, flaws and all!

My mask puts a barrier between me and the people I meet. How many friendships have I forfeited? How many opportunities have I missed? All in the name of my own skewed version of perfection. And worse, I have built a barrier between me and God because I’ve resisted who he created me to be. Playing pretend doesn’t work with God. He sees it all.

I’ll be honest. I’m not interested in forever abandoning make-up. I’m not convinced God has required that of me. But I am going to focus on being more transparent and breaking down the barrier I’ve created to perpetuate the lie of perfection.

I’m not perfect. I’m flawed. But I’m God’s work in progress. And that’s a whole different kind of beautiful.

You’ve see my bare face. Now it’s your turn. I challenge you to take off your mask today and post a make-up free photo of yourself on facebook. Because you are fearfully and wonderfully made, let’s praise Him together!

For more FACE.me inspiration check out the other blogs on this make-up free blog tour:

Friday, March 9, 2012

Make a Fashion Statement

Alright. I’ll admit it. I love to shop. I love fashion. I don’t have a budget that allows designer labels, but (on a good day) I can at least try to pull off the style. I know what looks good on me and I know what to avoid – things that shows off all my worst features. Sometimes, though, I get into that dressing room and realize that even an empire waist won’t cover those extra pounds of winter weight – compounded by a few too many winters. I wish I could just find something that covered all the undesirable parts and displayed a flawless me.
I have an irrational fear of being caught underdressed. The very idea of walking into a new church, restaurant or office and realizing that I’m the only one in jeans and a t-shirt makes me want to disappear into the floorboards. Almost as terrifying is the idea of spilling something all over myself when I can’t change and looking sloppy for the rest of the day.
The prophet Zechariah tells the story of a similar nightmare in one of his visions. He saw the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord in filthy rags. Satan stood beside him to accuse him of his symbolic fashion faux pas, pointing a finger at his disgrace.
Zech.3:4-5 reads: The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
Isaiah reinforces these themes, referring to our attempts at righteousness as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). Isa. 61:10 says I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.
When I go to meet my King that’s what I want to be wearing! But what exactly do garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness look like?
Rom. 13:14 puts it this way. “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” In Ephesians 4:24 Paul states, "Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” This theme recurs in Colossians 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:"
So if I wear a robe of righteousness before the throne of the almighty King, I will look just like his Son! What a fashion statement!
Do you keep God locked away deep inside or are you willing to wear the robe of righteousness, the image of Jesus Christ for all to see?