Keeping It Real

I've been a bit slack on my writing lately (thanks for reminding me Andy!), so I've decided to let the Lord lead me through this post. I have no idea what this will be, but I love this picture, and I feel that it has a message hidden within it's pixels that I will attempt to draw out.

If the Oxford Dictionary that sits on my desk had a picture attached to every term, this one would be found next to excitement. I snapped this picture of my son while riding the Goofy's Barnstormer Roller Coaster at Disney World. I noticed him laughing and squealing throughout the course of the ride so I grabbed the camera, held it out, and snapped this one just as we dropped over the big hill and into the barn. The neat thing about it is that there is nothing fake about his smile. What you see is unadulterated excitement, happiness, fun, and joy. There is no acting, forced smiles, or posing of any kind: What you see is REAL.

I'm reminded of Eldredge's "Wild At Heart", specifically the chapter called 'The Poser and the Question'. If you haven't read it, a poser is a false self that we convey to others. All of us pose and none of us are immune to it. Just this morning, a friend at work was explaining the dynamics of how a thing-a-ma-jig caused a doomaflotchy to fail and no one else noticed it until he showed up. To be honest, I had no idea what he was talking about but I nodded my head and simply said, "What idiot wouldn't notice that?" Like I would have been able too!

So, this picture is one of the few that I have taken over the years that record real, un-posed facts. My prayer today is that my life will reflect a genuine nature and I will not be afraid to tell someone "I don't understand". I guess I'm just tired/sick of being an expert at everything...