My generation values authenticity. It is everywhere you turn. We blast songs like "Born This Way" and "Follow Your Arrow" out of speakers. (Both songs this writer loves to sing off-key at the top of her lungs.) Online, and in person, we seek out social communities of likeminded people to confirm that we are ok just being exactly how we are. Mass media campaigns, tv programming, podcasts, and literature reflect this trend in my generation of just wanting to be one's true self without the need to apologize for who we are.
I spent a far too large portion of my adulthood feeling like I just didn't meet the expectations that had been placed on me. While it would be easy to point my finger at my upbringing, the religious culture I grew up in, or society in general for placing these expectations of what a life well lived was, I ultimately have to point the finger at myself. I am the one who gathered information and at the ripe old age of 16 decided what a successful adult looked like.
By the age of 25 I'd already failed. It felt like everyone around me had their adult lives in order. I didn't feel normal. I didn't feel as if I'd accomplished what every other friend around me had. I realize now that most of my fellow adult friends were feeling the exact same way inside.
After that it just took 10 years, and some serious life situations that caused me to return to God, for me to actually sort everything out. It amazing how a quick dumpster dive through drug and alcohol addiction can bring you back to God.
Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! -Lamentations 5:21
I did not come back to God quickly, rather due to the fact that I tried every other option first and they all failed me. That is how I remain forever grateful for my past mistakes. I don't like them, but they were a part of the plan God had for my life.
Just like a beach house after a hurricane, when you lose everything in your life you have to start from the foundation up. As I've spent the last years building my life I've tried to be diligent about making that foundation strong. Redoing the things I get wrong, rather than ignoring them. In taking the time to weigh every choice I make, I've learned that when I am honest, genuine and authentic, I am happy. So wouldn't being the most honest, most genuine, most unapologetically authentic person make me the happiest person ever in the whole universe?!
I started my 2022 with the plan to make "Unapologetic Authenticity" the theme of my year. The beginning of January started out well. I felt free to be me. Ha! Then came the middle of the month and I was starting to question if being unapologetically authentic was truly biblical.
I always find it funny when people who do not share my faith comment on my Christianity and how binding the rules of the Bible are. I actually find the total opposite from the word of God. I find great freedom in there being a gathered text I can turn to when I need to know what I should or shouldn't do. No one knows me better than my Creator so why wouldn't I use the user manual he gave me whenever I can?!
There is a harshness that can come when society adds the word unapologetic before authenticity. I've realized that in my first month. You excuse behavior or beliefs by saying, "I won't be sorry for who I am." I think what it ultimately does is remove love from the equation. That attitude is rude and can hurt others, because we do make human mistakes. We do have things to apologize for. I am not perfect and I don't know everything. Sometimes true authenticity means recognizing you're wrong.
When someone asks my opinion on something (like homosexuality) it really doesn't matter what my opinion is. It doesn't matter how I feel about something. What matters is what you think God is telling you the truth is. I may not understand what he tells me, but that's just the way it is. Like a child asking a parent why they must follow a rule. The reason may not be made clear to them, but that doesn't matter. They still need to follow the rules set before them.
I've come to the realization that true authenticity is living like Christ. Setting aside my thoughts and feelings. Loving, caring, helping, and serving others. I'm so much happier when I follow God rather than try to lead my own life. My hope and prayer for myself is that I continue to study what God wants and thinks I should be or do. It is the only way to happiness. It is the only way to release any earthly chains you feel are weighing you down. I pray all this for you too!
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