Authenti-Say What?!?!?

Authenticity is defined by my dictionary as:
1. Being of undisputed origin
2. Being reliable or trustworthy

Brene Brown has said that choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be emotionally honest, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle and connected to each other through a loving and resilient human spirit; nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we let go of what we are supposed to be and embrace who we are.  

To me, being authentic simply translates into being real. 

I was going to scrap this post. Just leave it, think of something different to write. I couldn't think of anything, and to be honest, I still haven't really thought of anything to write, but after this week, I'll accept the challenge and see what happens on the other side. 

It's Friday, very early morning, and I've been up almost all night. (And it's not because I've had too much coffee, I only had 1 1/2 cups yesterday, for all of you who are sitting and smirking and telling me in your minds that I drink too much coffee.) I'm in limbo. I don't have a job and I think this is what you call delayed jet lag, I'm not sure it's a thing, but I'm on my way to making it a thing. 

And right about here is where you go, I thought at the beginning of this she was defining, what was the word? Oh yeah, authenticity. 

I was, and I still am. 

Please, take a little journey with me into history. 2 Kings 2 is the story of Elijah being taken into heaven (side note: how cool would not dying be?) and Elisha being blessed with a double portion of his spirit. I read this story earlier in the week and it struck me in a fully new light. I also didn't know what this week would be like for me personally, so I kinda just archived it away in the brain and moved on, but I'm seeing now, how much deeper God wants to pull me into this story.

Elisha, bless his heart, wants a double portion of the spirit Elijah had. Essentially, he's asking for a double amount of God.  Elijah says, "If you see me taken into heaven, your request will be granted." Elisha, stubbornly persistent, stays with Elijah and sees him being swept away in a whirlwind of chariots and fire. The double portion of the spirit seems to immediately rest on him, as he takes Elijah's cloak, rolls it up, and hits the water with it, crossing the Jordan River back into Jericho. (A Bible teacher once mentioned, and I've never looked into it, so if it's wrong forgive me, that Elisha has double the amount of miracles recorded in the Bible than Elijah had, but if it's true, request granted and fulfilled.)

Up to this point, in my Bible reading, I'm going, "God, make me more like Elisha, look how much he wanted You. I want You that way." And then I read the rest of the chapter. 

Elisha crosses the Jordan River and is met by the sons of the prophets who are all amazed that Elisha has been given Elijah's spirit and immediately petition him to send people to go see if God has just dropped Elijah off in the mountains somewhere. Elisha says no, but after being approached repeatedly, he gives in, the ESV says, feeling ashamed, and sends men into the mountains to see if Elijah has fallen out of God's chariot into a mountain or valley somewhere. The strong men search for 3 days and return empty-handed. Elisha says to them, "See, told you not to go."

Second story: Elisha leaves Jericho and heads to Bethel. As he's leaving, boys come out and mock him, calling him a bald-head. Elisha turns and pronounces a curse on them and 2 bears come out of the woods and maul 42 boys, I'm assuming to death, but the Bible doesn't actually say. 

And you're probably still thinking, so authenticity???

Elisha is gung-ho, totally pumped up and completely hungry for God. He has been mentored by Elijah, seen miracles, gleaned wisdom, and now watched the man he admires disappear into God's care without physically dying. How incredibly radical?!?! But I wonder, how long does it take for him to realize that now people will be looking to him to be the man of God that Elijah was? When does the insecurity start to step in?

I'm thinking, not very long, if the first people he meets, try to get him to doubt that God's ability and His care of His children. Let me just put it this way, how likely is it that God would allow someone to fall out of His chariot? But the men shame Elisha into sending men to go and look for Elijah. Elisha is feeling the pressure to please others more than pleasing God. His insecurity in his new role translates into doubt of God. 

The second story just proves to illustrate a further insecurity. So I haven't studied it, and there may be some cultural connotation to this story, and if there is, please let me know. But from plain reading, it seems like Elisha is just insecure about his looks. Not fully whole in who God has created him to be.

I'm bringing this up, because I'm beginning to believe that it is impossible to be authentic when we allow our insecurities to rule our lives. We begin to produce facades, projecting images to others of who we'd like to be perceived as, not of who we actually are. We try to continually project to society that we're okay, we have this all together. 

We don't. We're all hopelessly flawed and life is just super hard. 

I understand that there is some performance-based action that is good and also that we still have to live up to some societal norms. It's not necessarily good to tell people every single little issue happening in your life. But I want to challenge us to be real. Find those people in your life that you can talk to if you're struggling or connect to if God has brought you through something hard and they're going through the same thing.

Life sucks sometimes, there are cancer scares, pregnancy scares, suicide scares. People are hurting. So deeply. People are being challenged by life every day and they're feeling like they're walking this journey alone. 

I've been through things that I don't want to go through ever again. Many days, I don't even want to be reminded of the past. I want to close the lid and pretend it never happened. I think we all have those things. But we need to realize that we've come through things for a reason, and it's generally so that we can walk through it with someone else. 

God created us for community. Community is real and it's hard and it's beautiful. But the best way to do it, is by being authentic with the people that God has placed around you. 

Who can you connect with today? Who is going to be part of your life-journey?