Once again we are all reminded how short life is. How suddenly it can be taken away from us, and how we have absolutely no control. I can try my hardest to eat well and work out, but there’s no promise that I won’t end up with a life-altering and deadly disease. I can wear my seat belt and life jackets, but there’s no guarantee that an accident won’t happen. I can try my hardest to protect my little family in every way possible, but I never really know what life has in store and how our story could change.
This lack of control is something that weighed heavily on my heart this past Tuesday as I was driving to Moss Mountain. Even in the midst of excitement, I couldn’t help but worry about Nate and Weston and if they would be protected from potential storms heading our way. As the weather started to show that it wouldn’t be severe I slowly started to release that tension, allowing other thoughts to start forming in my mind. It was the usual suspects: normal random thoughts sprinkled with moments of self-doubt, worry and pride. And as I was losing myself in those thoughts, a word was said that really struck my heart: authenticity. We were in the middle of a discussion at the Bean2Blog event about interior design, and Allen said what was important to him in all of his design was to be authentic to himself.
Y’all, I don’t know why this stuff just strikes me so hard and so suddenly. The idea of authenticity is not new here, and it’s something I strive for daily. But there’s always that small, terrible voice in the back of my mind telling me to do things the way I see them being done somewhere else. Write like that blogger, cook like this one, dress like that girl, wear your hair like this, like this music and these TV shows and buy all of the things. You’re not worth anything if you don’t reach this level of success, make X amount of dollars, live in that neighborhood. I could go on and on and on.
But Tuesday I sat there and I soaked in the word. AUTHENTICITY. Not false or copied; genuine; reliable; trustworthy; undisputed credibility.
Once again I sit back and revisit myself. I think about the things I write, the recipes I make and the experiences that I have. This short little life that I’ve lived so far has been filled with inauthentic thoughts and actions, things that are not of me, that have been mimicked and copied and, as it turns out, all of those things were just cheap knock-offs of someone else’s real thing. Life has also been filled with a lot of authenticity – things that announce HEATHER WAS HERE! Words typed that are the very definition of my heart, raw and real, things that are said that really are my weird sense of humor, actions and thoughts that could never belong to anyone else.
I sit here and I pray (really, I’m praying NOW) that my life, as it becomes more authentic, begins to not just tell others that I am real, but that God is real in and through me. When I think about this life, but a blip in time in the grand scheme of things, I hope and pray that what I say and do shows others that I’m OK with being especially me because I’m more than OK with the work God has done in me. Every moment leading up to now has been for something bigger than just Heather; my goal is to make every following moment authentically God’s.
I hope you guys have an incredible weekend. I love you 🙂
Heather
I love these thoughts you’ve shared. You are already doing it.
So glad to have met you this week (wow, I mean last week!)
I can’t imagine that you are anybody but you. You are so special to Dad and I–and that is truly authentic! We are so proud of you. There are tears in my eyes as I think of all the precious moments we have been blessed with because of you. You are wonderful–and wonderfully made.
Love, Mom
It has been such a pleasure meeting and getting to know you just a little. I think many of us were struck by that same word, authentic. I’ve actually started a post focused, in part, on that. I loved this post. Thanks for becoming my friend. Be sure to link up on the AWB site. Hope to see you at conference in Sept. if not before.
Hey Heather! It was nice to meet you-I only wish we’d gotten a chance to talk. Maybe next time?
DEFINITELY next time! It was so great to meet you too Gina!
Authenticity is the stuff character is made of. I stumbled upon your website while researching one of your sponsors. Ladies like you make the world a better world. Your comments throughout your web site remind me of the theme song from the movie Mr. Chips (with Peter Otoole)…ck it out on “Pandora.”
I love this post, Heather. I think we’re having authenticity, becoming older. It’s normal, in my opinion, to BECOME authentic, and not BEING authentic.
Because, growing up, becoming older, we’re still looking for ourselves and try to be better, funnier, more clever, as this one or this one, forgetting that we are what we are, full of good things too.
Friendly.
Love the way you said this Axelle! So true!
Just, yes! It was so nice to meet you Tuesday and I can’t wait to see all your pictures.
Ditto Karen! I’m so glad we got to meet in person!!!
Thank you Heather. Your authenticity always shines through to me, so just keep living it. 🙂
Bless you and thank you for sharing your sweet heart.
Love this so much!! You have never come across as anything other than authentic to me. Hope your weekend is amazing!
I am so glad you were there and that you had an aha on authentacity. Love those moments!