This month FACETS is thinking about life lessons—the sharp chisels, gritty sandpaper, and beautiful gems in our lives. Life lessons speak to where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going in life. I (Jennifer) am thankful for truth-filled lessons, but I rarely find them “easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.”
I’m a wife and mom, and I probably wear ten other “hats” interchangeably. Sometimes I imagine the hats are real accessories. The “wifey” one is shimmering white with a 21-diamond-studded, tungsten carbide band. My blue mommy hat dangles mini mementos from a wide brim: diapers, pacifiers, bottles, homemade baby food, Tonka trucks, Matchbox cars, Legos, dirt clumps, critters, frisbees, footballs, sweaty clothes, smelly shoes, an empty refrigerator, happy tears, sad tears, and a few fear tears. My teacher hat is decorated with green, orange, purple, and red pens; lesson plans; books, books, and more books. Antique typewriter keys spell out AUTHOR & EDITOR on the writer hat’s band. A pink friend hat is covered in rhinestones, dark chocolates, mugs, coffee beans, and tea bags (D’uh!). The athlete hat sports softballs, belts from several martial arts, fried eggs, smoothies, dumbbells, and running shoes. Graphite images wrap around the bright-white paper artist hat.
The question is, are my hats the reality and totality of Jennifer? Are yours the sum of you? Is it who we’ve been, are, and ever will be? When I answer those questions, I lean into truth lessons I’ve learned.
Truth: I am not what I do.
The life lessons I’ve encountered speak to something crucial: I am not what I do. See, when a hat defines me, I’m probably wearing it, loud and proud, on the treadmill of life. At least, that’s my experience. When I’m defined by what I do, what happens when marriage is hard, children grow up, jobs change, friends relocate, or the brain writes “athletic checks” the body can’t cash? Some hats can inform me of important details in my life. The hats can’t define me or you because we’ll be crushed under the weight of performance, good or bad, and permanence or absence. Lesson (being) learned.
Truth: Truth is hard.
If I listed identity words connected with my life, it’d be a mixed bag. There would be a childhood description, a young adult one, and something after that (technically, until yesterday). Good, bad, and ugly would swirl in the mix. Words reflect I’m a survivor…saved…but also selfish…and I battle anger, shame, and sadness over many things. That’s where I’ve been, honestly, even up to a second ago in some of it. I’ve seen the good, bad, and ugly in a hard but honest way: I’m oh-so-flawed!
Truth is hard, but one big truth can’t be ignored. As true as the description up there may be, reflecting my flaws and struggles, there is something truer (if that’s a “thing”).
Truth: Nobody’s perfect.
We hear that all the time, and it’s true, but the truth is imperfection causes problems deeper than just “not quite getting it right” and follow-up apologies. The cycle of wounding God, ourselves, and others has to be broken, and it will never be a behavior mod kind of thing. I was desperate to deal with the rotten “stuff” of life—mine and others’ dished my direction—and the road I took led me to biblical truth: this world (everyone and everything in it) is pretty messed up.
Truth: Jesus is the answer to imperfection.
When I think about who I am today, I’m thankful to rest in the truer truth: I’m a daughter of a king. Actually, the King. And that was brought about by a lesson: Father-God is real, He speaks true and loving words, and He demonstrated love in Jesus.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18 CSB
That’s one of all the places in the Bible where we meet truth head-on. The reality is, truth has to be met; it can’t be ignored. Our imperfection (sin) flies in the face of Holy God and must be addressed. (If you’re unsure about God, the Bible, Jesus, and truth; maybe it’s time to have a conversation with a trusted Christian friend or pastor. I wrestled hard—and contentiously—with exactly those things. I encourage you because I care.)
Truth: God is real, and He loves me.
And that life lesson in truth up there—that God is real and holy, loves deeply, and has provided a way to be free from overwhelming power of sin and death—that’s what informs my identity and my future.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 CSB
Then I learn how valuable I am and have no doubt where I’m going simply because…well, Jesus. I once had images of clouds and harps juxtaposed with fire and pitchforks. The Bible gives detailed descriptions, and I don’t see our culture’s caricature of the afterlife in there. What I love is that this intricately created universe truthfully reveals the fingerprints of the Designer who made it. And when He comments on truth and the only way to His eternal life, we should listen.
Truth: There is a reality I can’t see, but I will…
Somewhere between all ready and not yet. Where I’m going is all about a reality I can’t see—yet!
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. Hebrews 11:1 ESV
[F]or we walk by faith, not by sight 2 Corinthians 5:7
Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and have made a good confession before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12
I once had a false impression of where I was going; now it’s clearer. While I won’t have a perfect image until I see it with my own eyes, I can walk more confidently in truth now about the future. (I’m learning to walk that out every day.) I don’t really wonder where I’m going. I do wonder what it will be like to see and embrace the perfect presence of God with a newly-created mind and body. (Can I be a little taller, please? *giggle*) And my spirit longs for that in some way every day! You, too?
When you think about your future, what feelings do you have? What about the future do you long for most? Comment below or at the FACETS Facebook page. I’d love to hear from you.
If you haven’t, take a peek at Tracy’s thoughts from last week, too!
