authentic | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘authentic’

Be Real

Posted in WONDER, tagged #1john4:7, #bereal, #loveoneanother, #maderealbylove, #margerywilliams, #thevelveteenrabbit, authentic on May 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I recently re-read a favorite child’s story, and it got me to thinking.

What it is to be real.

The Velveteen Rabbit (I strongly recommend it … for any adult!) is the story of a perfectly stuffed and decorated bunny, received with joy, by a boy, who heaped complete attention and dedication …

for a few short hours.

The Rabbit then gets put away in a toy cupboard, where he lives an awkward existenance with the other, more expensive, toys. There in the cupboard, he is befriended by the Skin Horse, an older and wiser toy, who teaches the Rabbit the most important lesson that any rabbit (or person) could ever learn …

what it is to be real.

Not long after, the Rabbit gets to experience what it is to be real, despite having the shine, the softness rubbed away. He was made real by the love of the little boy.

Due to unfortunate events, the Rabbit is tossed to the fire pile, and the rest … well now, if I tell you, you will never be motivated to read it ( http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html ).

At one point, the Rabbit is offered the ability to become, really real. His response was:

“wasn’t I Real before?”

And the response to his question was:
“You were Real to the boy, because he loved you …”

To be loved is know that you have value, worth, that you exist. To be loved is to be known, and to be needed, wanted. To be loved is to know purpose for life, for you have someone who makes life worth living.

“Dear friends,
let us love one another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:7

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Music To Write An Obituary To

Posted in GOD, life, WONDER, tagged authentic, funerals, I Want to Live Like That, Life, Live Like That, obituary, Sidewalk Prophets on September 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Driving down the road recently I heard a song on the radio that put my mind to contemplating obituary writing (now that sounds like a bit of a downer, doesn’t it?).

It is a song by the group Sidewalk Prophets, called “Live Like That,” and it just makes me consider how I live my life, in such a profound way, every time I hear it.

The song begins with the simple question that we have all asked at some point in our lives:

“Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I’m only just a memory
When I’m home where my soul belongs”

I see that question in the eyes of the elderly especially, but also in the eyes of those who are my age, when I attend a funeral. We celebrate a life, and wonder if we are living in such a way as to give reason for celebration when we pass. Common contemplation for we mere mortals.

Then it moves into the question that really makes me ponder how I am spending the gift of the time I have to walk this sod:

“Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song”

Ah, authentic living! That is what I desire with all my heart, but I am so very … human. I fail at this so easily. I forget to be the hands and feet of my God. I sometimes worship out of ritual. My authenticity can sometimes be so very … plastic … but that is not what I desire most.

In the second verse, I am challenged not in what I do, but in who I am in my heart:

“Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true

People pass
And even if they don’t know my name
Is there evidence that I’ve been changed
When they see me, do they see You”

Ah, the questions that are at the heart of living a life as a reflection of the one who lives within us. It is here that I want so very much to be successful, not for my own success, but to accurately represent the one who I claim with my lips has changed my life, who gives delight to my days, who gave more than any other. This verse is one that I want to rattle through my brain as I live each day. I need it to rattle in my head, so as to remind me to live with purpose and intent each day.

The chorus and the ending of the song pull it all together …

“I want to show the world the love You gave for me
I’m longing for the world to know the glory of the King

I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You

If love is who I am
Then this is where I’ll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back

I want to live like that”

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Tradition

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged authentic, Fiddler on the Roof, Grace Hopper, same, status quo, Traditions on April 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

One of the blessings of not growing up in a family that went to church, is that I have never felt bound to a certain denomination, or style of worship service, or any of the other hang ups that we can be prone to as groups of people (not to say I have not attained my own hang ups over the years).

I remember clearly a conversation I had once with a teenager from hubby’s youth group, and her response to doing something ‘new’ was “but, we’ve never done it that way.” Yikes! When a teenager, at a time of life of questioning and challenging status quo, is stuck in “but that’s how we always do it” our churches have a problem.

Now, I have to say that I am a bit of a traditionalist. I love forms that have rational behind them. I agree that we need to honor the rites and rituals that are based on Biblical teaching. I do not, though, believe we should do things just because it is our tradition (ever seen Fiddler on the Roof? I am hearing the song “Tradition” in my head right now).

Traditions are not bad, they just need to be authentic.

For instance, there was the story of the handed down method of cooking a roast in one particular family. As the granddaughter was learning from her mother how to properly prepare it, like great grandma used to, the mother instructed her to cut about three inches of the roast off, before placing it in the pan. When the granddaughter asked why, the grandmother said, “it’s tradition.” The granddaughter persisted in wanting to know why. Just then the great grandmother walked into the room, and so, the question was asked, ‘why do we cut the end of the roast off?’ To which the great grandmother replied, ‘I do not know why you cut it off, but I had to because my roasting pan was too small.’ Authentic tradition? Not!

It is so easy to get into habits, that become traditions, that become a part of the fabric of who we are. If who we are is just a people of tradition followers, then our life is formed only by the past. But, if who we are is a people of only what is new, then our life is formed only by the present. To move into the future, we need to bring with us the traditions that are authentic, along with fresh perspectives and a willingness to be open to creating new, equally authentic traditions.

“The most damaging phrase in the language is:
“It’s always been done that way.”
Grace Hopper
(US Navy officer and American computer scientist, known as a pioneer in the field)

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