Considering Veneers?

There are “friends” who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)

There is an optical illusion about every person we meet. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) What is the 'illusion' you are displaying right this very minute? Regardless of how 'genuine' you believe yourself to be, there are just times when you 'put on display' something quite different from what is really going on inside. It is kind of hard to be 'genuine' all the time - especially around those you may not know very well, or trust very deeply. When you do find that individual you feel totally comfortable around, I would challenge you to ask yourself the question about what you still portray as an 'optical illusion', even in that very close relationship. At first, you might just say there is nothing you keep from that individual, but let me ask you if you have ever tried to keep something from God. If the answer is 'yes' to that one, then let me just say it is highly unlikely you have no 'optical illusions' in your earthly relationships either!

An illusion is something 'put forward' in such a way so as to obstruct the true interpretation of the true nature of something. The road ahead appears to narrow, especially if you can see miles ahead on a straight path. Does it really? No, it is an illusion because of the perspective you have of that road from the vantage point you maintain. While up in an airplane, every plot of farmland may appear to be very perfectly 'portioned', straight lines dividing one portion from the other. On the ground, the same fields may appear to all run into each other seamlessly. Perspective often determines the degree of 'illusion revelation' one might have! Have you ever seen someone with veneers covering their teeth. On the way home the other day, I noticed someone's 'snap-on' veneers for their front teeth cast aside on the ground. What had once been a likely 'lovely set' of front teeth when they came into work were now nothing more than trash by the wayside! The illusion was broken!

I have a friendship that allows me to 'come close' to being my true self, but even at my most revealing, I imagine I hold a little back. Most of us do. We don't intend to, but we guard ourselves just a little. It is either because we aren't quite comfortable with who we are ourselves, or we aren't quite sure the other party is ready for us to totally be 'real' around them! Our heavenly Father doesn't want us to 'come close' to being our true self with him, though. In fact, he relishes time times we come just as we are - warts and all - and just settle into the comfort of knowing he doesn't judge us, nor does he see us as hopeless. He embraces us and loves us just as we are. My closest friendship is like that - we settle into the comfort of knowing we don't judge each other and we can be 'comfortable' with each other, warts and all. There is no good way to cover your warts, my friends. It is all an illusion that will one day be cast aside as nothing more than a veneer! Just sayin!