Monday Musings... on a Tuesday

While doing a little Christmas shopping this year my husband and I decided to go to a store that we were unfamiliar with. We were no sooner in the door than we realized that if we were going to get in and out quickly (we are not shoppers!) we were going to have to ask for a little direction.

I saw a lovely looking young woman putting together a display and so made a beeline over to her. As I was asking her if she could direct us to the particular items that we were looking for I noticed that she had this odd look on her face. You know the look, all of a sudden you feel like you have spinach in your teeth or that you are coming across as a brainless wonder. After she pointed in the direction that we were to go, I politely thanked her as I quickly ran my tongue over my left eye tooth. As we turned to leave she quickly stepped closer to me, kind of the uncomfortable kind of closer, leaned into my face and as she stared at me she asked.... "Excuse me, but are those your real eyes?"

For a moment I was stunned. For a moment I thought that something weird had happened to my eyes since exiting the car and entering the store. For a moment I felt like a bug pinned to the wall as this young woman peered into my face... I quickly gathered myself and politely answered, "Well, yes, they are." She took a few steps back and said, "Well, they are just lovely!" "Thank you," I replied, as my husband patiently smiled, all the while increasing his pull on my arm.

A hundred years ago we would never have thought of asking someone whether "those were their real eyes"... real breasts, real hair, real teeth, real nails, real lips, real... well, you get the idea.

'Faking it' has become big business and a way of life in today's world. We all do it to some degree or another. Yet this avenue of thought gave me cause to think about the 'innermost parts' of myself. Those parts that are unseen by others but definitely seen by God - and because the word 'real' can be equated with 'true' and the opposite of true is 'false', it started me thinking about my own thoughts and actions that flow from truth... or from falsehood... and the eventual out-workings of both, whether in word or deed.

God tells us that His Word is Faithful and True, just as He Himself is Faithful and True. I don't ever have to wonder when I open my Bible if what I am reading is true, or if what I am reading is real. I may be able to rationalize to a flattering degree the why's and wherefore's of why I do what I do, but God knows the true intentions of my heart, the attitudes that lie within. How 'real', how 'true' are we, with ourselves, with others, before God?

As I mused I thought about God telling us in the Psalms that in us He 'desires Truth in the innermost places'. I thought about Philippians 4 which tells us that we are to let our mind dwell on those things that are True.

Then I thought about this simple conversation...

"Excuse me, Lord, but is all this for real?"

"Well, yes, it is."

"Well, it is just lovely."