Make pretense past tense.

I wish my life this day to have no shelves or boxes, display cases or any such place where things are held up or showcased as trophies,awards and nic-nacs. May my life simply be represented as it is. If simple ,then simple; if complicated, so be it. If virtue is present, it will rise naturally as cream to the top, it will be self evident. If there is leanness or shallowness to my character then all who call on me will either go away hungry or disappointed for they can find no harbor in me.I wish only to be not as I appear, but as I truly am. However, I would wish every encounter with me should be around an open fire whether inside or outside for it warms my wit and tempers my imagination to a tolerable degree.



I will have no division in my soul but be wholly present to every encounter. At 50 yrs of age there can be no hiddeness. Every aspiration,disappointment,failure,or triumph is some how etched in one's face. Lincoln once said,"Every man over age 35 is responsible for his face". He made that remark declining a position to someone in government.The reason he gave for denying that person was that he didn't like the way that person's face looked. Lincoln's assistant protested that that was discriminatory and unfair for how can someone be held accountable or responsible for the way their face looked. But he replied," Quite the contrary is true ,for we are all responsible for what we look like after midlife comes on for our character is carved in our visage."



I think him right, for if anger is present it resides in the eyes and the sternness of a brow often set. If hatred is resident, it leans the cheeks and sets the jaw; if kindness or love prevail there is a gentleness of features that age cannot efface and always the ever present eyes in which the windows of the soul can be viewed.Confidence is often masked insecurity which can be read in an instant as age shreds the curtains we have drawn. If manipulation and ploy have been the chief factors in attaining what was desired , these also are impossible to deny for they hang heavy on the forehead and circles about the eyes.Without a doubt, all that is inside will become apparent on the outside as age progresses. I think that is why I love the elder set so much; they have no time for pretense, they are what they are and they know it. All the wasted energy put out for appearance,image,and projection are all a mute point.



Why not skip pretense all together? Why not strip our image in our youth and be who we are?Take down your shelves and cabinets filled with paper trophies. Throw out the ornamental boxes with hidden false treasures and lets encounter one another with grace.Make pretense past tense . Enjoy one another for who they are, not what you would have them be or try to become what you think they would receive you to be. Be authentic yet ever striving to be authentically virtuous.@ Corinthians 10:18 " For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved , but the one whom the Lord commends"