Authentic

There is a word that keeps coming to me at the start of this New Year, and it's the word authentic. At first, I thought it was just my own imagination, but after having this word intrude into my mind again and again, I finally stopped what I was doing and started paying attention.  The more I thought about it, the more I started to understand what this word could mean for me this year. 

For the last few years, I have been in survival mode and just plowing ahead doing what I needed to do regardless of what it was or how difficult it may have been.  And when in survival mode, vision is sometimes skewed and choices are limited or so they seem.  The "purpose-driven life" becomes more like the "hanging on for dear life!"  For too long I have been surviving but not thriving.  This year I really think God is telling me to begin to move into more of my purpose and my passion... and to recover authenticity. 

I am very excited about this word but it can seem a little overwhelming to know where to start.  So this morning, I looked up "authentic" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and I asked God to use this as a starting place to speak to me.  This is what I read.  "Authentic:  real or genuine, not copied or fake; true and accurate; made to be or look just like an original; true to one's own personality, spirit or character." 

When I read this definition, I thought of my 6 year old niece.  I know her because I have watched her grow up.  I know her real personality, who she really is, how she thinks and what she really loves from a deep down place of authenticity.  It is such a purely authentic experience to watch a child thrive and to be who she truly is, like what she truly likes, and feel how she truly feels.  She knows herself and what she wants:)   While the adults in her life have taught her, shaped her, and given her a safe place of love, she has not been marred by people telling her who she should be or what she should like or how she should feel. At least not yet. 

Of course, it also made me think of how life can taint this little original childlike spirit and authentic self.  Over the years, "education" and the world's system or even church sometimes has a way of molding people into a copies or into something that they may not truly be.  And over the years, hurt, confusion, rejection, sin, pride gets all tangled up in a person's life as they grow older.  Without God's intervention and redemption, all of these things will remain heavy burdens weighing down the soul and burying the true original self that God created in that person.  Without God's intervention, we will not even know our true selves, as so much of that truest self has become lost.

As Christians, we are often told to deny ourselves and to die to self.  I believe these things are true too.  It is a mystery that Jesus says we must deny ourselves, repent and be "born again" and made into a new creation.  I know these things are true and I have experienced this in my own life.  There is a literal dying process when we surrender and die to selfishness, sin and pride.  There is a new birth process when we ask Jesus to save us and transforms our desires,  thoughts, and actions and fills us with the Holy Spirit, more love, purity, and humility.  But at the same time, we are still meant to be our own original authentic person that God created, a beautiful piece of art that God values  tremendously and He does not want it covered or scribbled on.  He wants it to shine forth His glory in a unique way. 

That is the authenticity I am talking about for the new year, the rediscovery of my truest original self in the midst of all God's done to make me new.

I think about the many areas of my life such as job and career, relationships, spiritual life, natural talents, hobbies, friendships, family, money and finances, emotions, church life, health and wellness, and many more.  The interesting thing is that the areas of my life that are thriving the most are the areas where I feel I have been the most authentic, the most true to my real self.  Meanwhile, the areas that are struggling the most are the areas where I have been less authentic.  Yet, in some areas I am still uncovering my true self so this will most definitely be a process. 

And so my journey into more authenticity, with God's help, begins today. 


"We are all born original.  We are all born unique.  But the tragedy is most of us die copies."
 - Larry Randolph