Lately, I have been intrigued by the fact that most things in life are not as they seem. People, situations, circumstances all have something hidden underneath that can surprise us. The beautiful girl who feels ugly and worthless. The seemingly happy marriage that is really broken and finished. The confident one who hides their fear and insecurity. This is life. There are just masks upon masks on everything, but when you do discover the truth, it can be shocking.
I guess I take things at face value a lot of times, which is strange as my background is in psychology. I take people to be what they reveal. I accept situations as what they show while wondering what is truly underneath. But, the truth of it all is that nothing is what it seems. We have to dig deeper than this blind acceptance. Once we do, we can discover truths and people who need our help, situations that need to be fixed, and circumstances that are begging for rectification.
I watched this video recently called "The Last Lecture" by a professor who is dying of cancer. He gave a speech at a series that the University held in which professors gave their pearls of wisdom if it were to be their last lecture. For Randy Pausch, it meant more than the trivial follow your dreams speech, it was his chance to reveal the truths he has learned in life to his students as well as to his children. He said something that has stuck out to me. He said that if you wait long enough, people will surprise you in a good way. I think about this a lot lately as things have been revealed that prima facie were quite another. I am trying to accept this as a truth in my life and I am trying to learn the art of patience as I wait to be surprised by people. But, the cynic in me wonders if people will ultimately just fail due to the hurt and brokenness inside of them.
Sometimes, though, before we can be surprised by those in our lives, we have to reach out to them and let them know that they can reveal what is hidden. We have to make them feel as though they can change our opinion and we are worth being surprised. We each have an opportunity as we face the tumbling down of the walls that hide the truths in the lives around us. We have the opportunity to react in a way that shows love and understanding rather than disgust and judgement. We have this opportunity, but will we take it?
I hope we can each make the most of the opportunities given to us, whether it be the opportunity to take off our own masks and show the truth or to accept someone once the facade is broken.....
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.- Ephesians 5:15-17
Sorry this one is a little random....
Here's to acceptance...
Until next time-
-C.
Check out "The Last Lecture" on this page:
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
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