Don’t Get “Hitch”ed

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Recently I had a conversation with friends about getting real with God. Many of us, I would dare to say most of us, want to put our best face on for God. We want to put our best foot forward, totally ignoring the fact that He has seen ever slip and fall we’ve ever taken. The saddest part is that the face we want God to see is often not our own face. We want to be like that person we see as “having it all together.” Big mistake!  Our Father knows us, inside, outside, upside down, while He certainly invites us to grow, to become more like Him, He loves us just as we are.

After thinking about that a bit I was reminded of a movie I really like. It’s called “Hitch.” I’ve seen it a couple of times and have a few favorite scenes. The one that comes to mind most often is the dance lesson scene. If you’ve seen the movie you know exactly what I mean and my guess is that you are now smiling if not chuckling out loud. It’s hysterical. The premise of the scene, and in fact the whole movie, is that being who we are, the real person, is not ever going to get you what you want out of life. Of course that premise is proven to be wrong and is made glaringly apparent with the outcome of the dance lesson.

After having jumped through a hundred hoops to change it turns out the two main gentlemen in the movie were perfect for the women of their dreams only when they were being real, living from their true center. The very things those men disliked in themselves were the qualities the ladies they wanted found most endearing.

I can relate to those men. There are so many things in my personality, my approach to life that I want to change and improve. Too many days I’ve given into the lie that life would be much better if I could stop something or start something, change appears to be what is needed. And yet, time after time, I see God using the very things about me that I don’t like to help or bless someone around me.

Last year a group of ladies with whom I work did a little exercise to boost morale. We wrote one word, one positive word, descriptions of each other. The words I received followed a definite pattern. A friend looked at it and told me that she told agreed, going on to compliment the one thing I really struggle with and am constantly trying to change. Hm… dance lesson? (But way less funny.)

Our Father created us, not only in His image but also in a way that He knew would best suit us to His purpose. We don’t have to dance, talk, walk or behave like anyone else. We need to be who we were created to be, uniquely and distinctively made.

Much like the gentleman in “Hitch” we may see some success when we pretend to be other than what we were created to be but that will change quickly and for the worst.  We need to live according to God’s plan and when we do the successes may be a bit more subtle but they will certainly be more real and more enduring.