NOT EASY...BUT I AM GOING TO TRY.

I am making a resolve today to "Get Real". Am asking for God's help as I really need it on this one.

This resolution was prompted by the following devotion for Saturday, April 14th from "The Word For You Today".

"Each one should test his own actions....without comparing himself to somebody else." Galations 4:6 NIV

Are you living as God intended, or are you struggling to live up to other people's expectations? What would happen if you dropped your mask and got real?

The story of The Velveteen Rabbit has a timeless message for each of us.

In a conversation between a new toy rabbit and an old skin horse, Rabbit asks, "What is real? Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you're made," replied Horse, "it's a thing that happens to you when a child really loves you."

"Does it hurt?" asked Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said Horse, "It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you're real most of your hair has been loved off, your eyes drop out, you get loose in the joints and very flabby. But these things don't matter because once you're real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

King David said, "you made my whole being...in an amazing...way (Ps 139:13-14 NCV)

Becoming real means accepting yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spirtually, and at the same time, recognizing and acknowledging that in God's eyes you are a work-in-progress.

Paul writes: "Since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed...parts...let's...go ahead and be what we were made to be" (Romans 12:4-6 TM)

Then he adds: "We all have different gifts....let us use them.."

and God will take you places you never imagined.

I'm going to try to start that journey today.