Let the Good Times Scroll

By Vanessa Shepherd

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you found yourself on the top of something extremely tall like a building or mountain, and everything in you wanted to jump off but it felt so real that you were unsure if you should? That moment of “If this is a dream I want to feel the wind under my arms but if this is reality I don’t want to feel the cement under my face?” So uncertain of what is happening you just stand there… like a crazy person of course because whoever just happens to find themselves on top of a giant building?

That struggle is real. (And it also happens to be the only thing that you are certain is real.)

I recently found myself in the same confused state over none other than HGTV. I am a big HGTV fan. Like BIG. I love anything and everything DIY and home-related and not too long ago I found myself in conversation with a friend who let me in on a little “secret”. Those shows are all FAKE. Yes I know that may not be news to you but for the skeptical let me fill you in on the secret too. The couple that are house hunting have in fact already found the house they want and put an offer on it well before they produce the show. The family that gets their house extremely made over is responsible for the upkeep on the majorly renovated house and 99% of the time ends up moving out because they can’t afford to stay there. The “free” gifts given to everyone in the audience have taxes attached to them that have to be paid in order to keep them. Maybe I am missing something but I never saw an episode including any of those things.  Reality TV is far from, well, reality.

If it is anything at all, “reality TV” is a big fat bowl of frozen mayo 

being sold as ice cream and people are eating it up.

If only it stopped there. Unfortunately this merging of the imaginary and reality happens more often than we all care to admit, and us girls are the biggest culprits. Don’t believe me?  Then post the forty pictures you took on your phone before that one golden one came along that was posed just right to hide any pretend bulges, or double chins, or closed eyes, or funny faces. Post the one that is just SO AWKWARD that you would just DIE if everyone saw, because I hate to break it to you but your phone is not a magician. Your face really does look like that sometimes.

Because YOU ARE REAL. Because there are bound to be some days that you don’t look like a Victoria Secret model (even if in fact you are a Victoria Secret model). Because some days you just want to frump around all day with yesterdays makeup and giant sweat pants on, eating nothing but Cheetos and guess what… that girl is beautiful too. And even more than that, she is the most beautiful. Because she is real.

So the next time you scroll through social media posts of amazing people doing amazing things and looking amazing while they do it, stop yourself from thinking that the split second it took to take that picture is their entire life. That could just be the 41^st picture that made the cut.

In this life you will have the good, the bad, and the cracking up because you never imagined it could get that bad-ugly. But it is what it is, because this is true "reality". Not the mess they show you on TV, or even the posts made by the majority of people on social media.

So post something REAL! Post that picture that you never wanted anyone to see because you were afraid of what they would say. And if you can’t then ask yourself- is it because I am insecure, or because I am hiding something? Because both of those are TERRIBLE excuses and are the precise ways that we hinder ourselves from being truly genuine.

If you are insecure, find your self worth in Christ. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. YOU ARE NOT FLAWED. (And if you think I am wrong then just read Song of Solomon 4:7) Real life isn’t always pretty or easy to look at but it is always beautiful.

And if you are hiding something, stop it. God did not send His Son for you to live a double life. Dress at home how you dress at school. Or better yet, come dressed in what you wore Friday night to Sunday morning church. And talk to your pastor how you talk to your best friend. If that makes you uncomfortable then ask yourself why you are living two ways in the first place, you were not created to be two separate people. You were created for more than that. You were created to be one of a kind. You were created to be genuine.

Let’s let the good times scroll, ladies. Let’s applaud the great social lives and perfect skin tones of others, and not think less of ourselves if we have neither of those things. Let’s get happy for others without getting sad for ourselves. Let’s not stop and obsess over every picture posted and every word written as if it were telling the full story.

Because #ThisIsRealLife

But so is this...

[I would like to note that it took two hours of searching through every picture file I had to find these gems. Clearly keeping a terrible picture of myself on my phone or computer is not my top priority because I can assure you I have taken some real award winners.  I will do my best from here on out to keep "the first 40'" and to remind myself while it may not be easy to look at- #ThisIsRealLife- and I love it!]

Matthew 6:2-4

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out."