Social media is a funny thing. I posted this pic after going to Handel’s Messiah last night with my boyfriend and quickly got several messages about how happy I look, how sweet the pic is, how happy everyone is for me. It was awesome!
In full transparency though, I think this pic captures one of the only times I smiled all night. I caught a cold over the weekend and it immediately settled into my lungs. I wasn’t in the best frame of mind and on the way to the event, we had a heavy conversation I didn’t see coming. Because of my cold and the overwhelming need to cough every time I exhale, I sat there practically emotionless all night. I was a barrel of fun. And between yesterday and today, I’ve consumed an entire bag of cough drops- half of which I may have consumed during the performance. Yummmm.
The posts- the constant smiles and curated content, the perfection- it doesn’t exist. Happy lives and joy filled romances? Absolutely! Always smiling, everything always peachy? No.
I wonder- have we forgotten that it’s ok to be real? The raw moments of life will rarely get you many “likes” but I feel like they are what shape and sculpt us into something closer to what God has in mind to grow us up to be. The struggles, the waiting periods, the moments of true endurance- that is where the anvil of our soul meets the hot metal in the fire that is being hammered and formed into something truly beautiful and useful. The real challenge is to not jump out of the fire, to be willing to wait for the process to complete. And in the process, we don’t have to appear perfect.
I’m going to go eat some more cough drops, wish me luck.