My friend stopped by the other day to chat. She is one of those delightful people who lives every moment through her untainted heart. I can hardly wait to talk to her because she thinks things through in ways that I do not. Every action and reaction of hers is filtered through her soul and heart, which is so pure and sweet.
She willingly shares her deepest fears and highest highs without holding back anything. I believe she is the only person in my life who does this, and I find so much joy in our conversations because of who she is. She is very real.
“Being real” is a phrase that generally makes me shudder when it is spoken. It portends that the rest of us are fake, and although I do think that might be true of some, surely it cannot be the majority of us. Many of us do not wear our hearts on our sleeves, or maybe our hearts are a bit deeper down inside, and so it is more difficult to pull them up and lay them out to share with others those things that we believe are possibly uninteresting, personal or that we may truly be hiding because of fear or rejection.
What a shame this is so, because I must say it is true bliss to speak to my friend who is willing to share it all with love and fear and every other emotion out there – but it is all very real.
Our small group started a Bible study of First John recently. I do not believe in coincidences, so oddly enough the Bible study is based on a commentary entitled “Be Real” by Warren W. Wiersbe. How interesting that these two things occurred this week.
Listening for God’s Voice
When something like this ensues it makes me become alert, because when God presents such similar matters to me in a short period of time I believe I had better be paying attention because He is telling me something I need to hear. You can bet that now I have my ears open in prayer and my eyes on my daily Scriptures to learn exactly what that is.
It is exciting to chat with and hear from a blessed friend, but even more so to hear from my Heavenly Father. Might this be a chastisement or an effort at perfecting me? I may not know for a while, so I am being attentive.
Because I am very deaf it is hard for me to hear my friend, but it is such a joy that I make a point to focus as much as I can to catch every word. Can I say the same about the way I am listening for God’s word to me? I pray that I listen and hear and understand what God is telling me.
There are times when I feel so very close to my Father that I can almost see His heavenly glory, and then there are other times when I feel I must be wandering off the path because a fog seems to settle between me and that beautiful glory. It is a deadly feeling, and at those times I plead to find out why I am out of touch.
Truth Is Real
I am looking forward to the day when I can speak face to face with my Lord Jesus and hear (with new ears) His stories and His heart, which, of course, will be very real. There is only truth in my Savior Jesus, and I believe that truth is what makes everything real. But truth isn’t always so common today as we might desire.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to believe absolutely everything we hear because we are assured it is true? That, I might add, is never going to be real. Ever since Adam and Eve we have been heading downhill in our obedience, and truth appears to have been the first moral to go because we are told after Cain killed Abel, “When the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”
Consistently living in truth seems to me to be the answer to being real with others while leaving out my tedious self-serving introspections. Starting with me, and maybe you, too, we can begin to be more honest with each other.
Can I just admit if I make a mistake and apologize instead of creating some scenario that may have caused my error? Of course, and with practice apologies get easier. I need to make an immediate effort to be real all the time with everyone – honest and true in my heart and actions – much like my dear friend.
Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
