Transparency

Wow, it has been a week and a half since I posted anything! My dear little lappy, Miss Emma, was quite sick so I had to send her to California to be repaired, poor little thing (not that I actually think of my computer as anything more than an inanimate object, of course!). So I hooked up my old desktop so I would not get behind in schoolwork, and you know what?? That thing is slow! I ended up getting slightly behind in my schoolwork anyway, and there was no way I was getting a blog post up. Emma returned to me late afternoon on Monday, so my Monday evening and Tuesday were spent playing homework catch-up. Yesterday and today, I had classes and more homework. So anyway, that is why I have not posted anything . . . even though I have had several posts floating through my head these past several days.

So what does that have to do with transparency?? Nothing. Just a random picture of my life for your viewing - or, I should say, reading – pleasure.

So transparency. In church on Sundays, our ladies' Sunday School class has been doing Beth Moore's Bible study on Daniel. I did this study at the summer camp I work at back in 2007. It has been interesting to see the different things I pick up this time through, 3 years later. This week we were in Daniel 3; you know, the story of the 3 friends in the fiery furnace? Well the main point of her lesson was that there are three ways we can be delivered from "fiery trials." God can save us from the fire (avoiding it altogether), through the fire (bringing us safely to the other side), or He can use the fire to deliverer us from this world of sin right into His arms. This was the thing I noticed three years ago and it stuck with me. But this time something else struck me, and I think this will stick we me too.

Daniel 3:1a - Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits (ninety feet high and nine feet wide). Now clearly, we are not going to go out and build a huge statue out of gold (though it would be impressive if we had the capability to, huh?). So Beth Moore posed the question, how are we image builders? I expected the cliché response that anytime we place some "thing" before God it becomes an idol for us. And while I believe that is true, that is not where she went with this. She took the stance that every time we present ourselves as something we are not, we are building an image.

Wow. Which one of us can say that we are completely real all the time? I do not think any of us could. Does that mean we should all spill are guts to everyone around us. No, I do not think it does. According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, transparency means: the state of being free from pretense or deceit. Transparency does mean that we should not attempt to pretend we do not have flaws. We all have flaws, we all sin. Maybe that sin you have been hiding from the world, pretending does not exist, is exactly what one of your sisters is going through. Maybe they need to know they are not alone. Maybe they need to see you instead of the image of yourself you show to the world.

So, I am instating a "you ask (or share), I'll tell" policy for my life. Sure, I would like the whole world to think I am perfect –wouldn't we all? But I'm not. And I won't be this side of heaven. So wouldn't you join me in being just a little transparent?