Taking Off the Masks: Part 1

Let's take some time to just get real. OK?

We all know we put on masks. We put our best faces forward. We make the best impressions.

But, sometimes walking through the fire which strips you of everything you have, including your pride, can be the best thing that happens to you. I know this from experience.

A new year brings opportunities for goals, growth and focus. Quite honestly, this has been percolating in my head for a couple of months now...

So, as I do a lot of talking and encouraging, I want to take the first steps at getting real.

One step at a time, as in peeling an onion, I'm going to begin the process of stripping away some masks of my own. My prayer is that all of us will be challenged to go a bit deeper - a bit more real - with ourselves AND with others.

Today I will begin with the Superficial.

(And there is a method to my madness - a purpose in this journey)

1. I am addicted to my makeup. Dark circles and splotchy skin have made my concealer my best friend.

2. I've learned the art of lighting and pose when it comes to taking pictures. And I am the first to admit when I don't like a certain picture of me (so you'd better not post it to Facebook!) With crooked teeth, wrinkles and sagging skin, the perfect stance and lighting can take me from lovely to horrendous within seconds.

3. I don't have good hair. My friends say I do, but the reality is that it is limp, flat and dull without a certain array of products. I hate to blow dry my hair but it is necessary to achieve the look of fullness and body.

4. My nails are atrocious when not painted. I don't have naturally pretty fingernails.

5. I have finger toes.

6. I have large ears for a girl.

7. One finger on my right hand is crooked and for some asinine reason I am self-conscious about that.

8. I wish my skin were darker.

9. I wish I were thinner.

10. I wish I had naturally beautiful hair and skin.

11. I wish I were a natural beauty.

I'm not sharing this to compel you to compliment me. Just the opposite actually. (Because the above is all true. If I posted a pic of me au naturale: no makeup nor hair fixed, it would freeze your computer). This is not about validation. It's about getting real...

I actually desire us all to go a bit deeper in our walks. More real. More true.

Beginning here, I am going to proceed to go deeper and deeper over the next few days; getting more and more transparent and reveal why I believe it to be so very important in our journeys.

And I know God will use this to draw me - and you - deeply closer to Him.