Authenticity
To be beautiful
What the Lord has been teaching me lately.
A series of thoughts with no structure written as the conversation was happening in front of me.
Between myself and my squad mates where the original question I posed was “what do you think of the phrase ‘beautiful things don’t ask for attention.’?”
Take what you will.
I feel like through out high school I was relatively authentic which caused me to draw people in and have many people in many different circles consider me a friend. My authenticity in my environment was simply not typical. In some ways I feel like it didn’t even matter because what I looked like and who I was friends with would have been enough. It was always enough and for so many people it is enough and we so often settle for that being our standard for enough. Someone could easily be accepted because of who they were friends with and because of what they looked like.
I think authenticity set me apart in some circles because it was not a norm or typically valued. Though my authenticity set me apart, I still felt accepted when I didn’t feel authentic.
Now that I’m in an environment where authenticity is valued and so many people are genuinely authentic, I don’t feel like I bring anything special to the table. I don’t even know what it actually looks like for me to be authentic. My own authenticity has never been challenged until the race.
Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.
Beautiful things demand attention whether it’s intentional or not.
Beautiful things on the outside change how beauty on the inside is displayed.
Beautiful things on the inside change how beauty on the outside is displayed.
Society wants us to give our attention to outwardly beautiful things.
Society often praises inauthenticity. Traditional beauty is not necessarily authentic.
Is authenticity inherently beautiful?
If it is inherently beautiful, is it inherently attractive to everyone?
Why does authenticity put fear into the hearts of some people?
Are there times when you shouldn’t be authentic?
If it asks for attention, does it take away from its own beauty?
Beauty is the most objective thing I know of.
Beauty should point us to the Lord and was originally intended to do so.
Authentic beauty.
Free beauty.
Raw beauty.
Free beauty + raw beauty = authentic beauty (???)
Authentic = bold
A flower is so beautiful and grabs attention and admiration for simply existing. It does nothing other than what it literally NEEDS to do in order to survive. So a person just simply existing is beautiful and not trying to do more but also a person simply existing and not living is a waste of potential. The Lord looked at creation and said it was good. But he looked at man and said it was VERY good. We were designed to thrive, not simply exist. Our equivalent of a flower surviving is us thriving.
We were created to do so much more than simply survive.
Nature lives up to exactly what the Lord intended it do and it is always so beautiful, without fail, in any season, at all times and points us to the beauty of God’s creativity.
Nature reminds us of the creative, delicate, and powerful Hand of God though those adjectives don’t seem like they would go together.
In the same way, An authentic person showcases God’s creativity.
Adam and eve before the fall could not be anything but themselves and were made in God’s image and were the most beautiful man has ever been.
“This is the courage of the artisan – to know ourselves and be true to that knowledge. The artisan rejects all that makes us false and takes the huge risk of being true. To embrace our authentic selves and live in that raw expression of being fully human is our greatest risk and richest reward.” – Erwin McManus, The Artisan Soul
are authenticity and creativity synonymous?
Truest self = most creative self
“The creative act calls us to be more than we can be alone” = creativity causes dependency thus authenticity should cause us to depend on the Lord
To be truly you and what you were intended to be, to have an artisan’s soul, dependency on the Lord and communion with him is absolutely essential.
I want to have an artisan’s soul.
I want to be dependent.
I need to be dependent.
Dependency produces beauty.
What is your beauty? What is your beauty pointing others to?
The authenticity of others does not have to take away from the value of my own authenticity. My authenticity also looks different from anyone else’s. It’s unique to me in the same way that what I look like is unique to me. What I bring to the table is my own authenticity and that will always be enough because my father says it’s enough. Who I am will reach others in ministry in ways no one else can in the same way they will reach others in a way I cannot. The Lord is redeeming my story and using it in ways I could never imagine and all I have to do is walk in the authority that I am enough because of His grace. I want my beauty to point the greatest artist and His grace that has saved me. Comparison is a lie the devil loves to use but he can only have a hold on you with the lies you choose to believe.
To be in an environment where those around me value these kinds of conversations is refreshing and challenging. Refining will occur if you let it.
I hope I never get used to this.
– L
