My Thoughts Are All a'Twitter

So, the other day I was watching the Susan Boyle video on YouTube and crying like half the world. Man, did she crank it out of the ballpark or what?! I just love it when moments like that happen. Unexpected. And all together delightful.

Then, of course, came all manner of online comments, blogposts, editorials, and such. One in particular captured my attention. It's the kind of writing and insight which makes one wish they had written as it was spot on in every way. Yes, we are an image-centric world and yes, beauty supercedes, well, a lot. Tis all true, as well as this thought strand which developed along with the first: Is the Christian marketplace/talent pool really any different? Really?

I remember reading a book titled, The Wind in the Wheat, years ago. It was a warning wrapped in fictional rebuke exposing, if one believed, the not-so-different parameters of Christian music and its talent. The story bothered me; partly because I desired to be "in" such an element someday (not music, I knew my vocal limits even as a teen), but more so getting under my skin and causing me to take another hard look at the photographic images of my own favorite "artists" and "writers."

May I just honestly say that very few, if any, were homely.

So what's my point in all this?

That Photoshop should go the way of the darn albums spun backwards? And Spanx and MAC Studio Fix relegated to a burn pile?

Uh, no. My point is simply this, it's hard not to get caught up in the hypersuperficiality of this present marketing system. Be it TV. Podcasting. Speakers. Musical artists. Or any other genre. It's hard not to measure yourself (and others) by said superficiality. But I think we have to do just that. Step away from all the Botox'd "I'm-gonna-look-like-I'm-25-forever" imagery ALL around us and settle back into what's important. Step away from the Professional Christian aura we may come to believe about others and ourselves!

Here's where I am as of April 17, 2009: God is urgently compelling me to leave behind the "personality/brand" centered huggabaloo of the past and to embrace instead a "value-mission driven" purpose which naturally flows out and into my real world community/online dwelling place/and speaking and writing relationships and projects.

What an sweet, sweet, place this is to be at age 43. No more striving. Just rest which my soul has longed for as many years as I am old. Rest. Contentment. And a renewed passion for Jesus--just Jesus. I never believed too much that the world HAD to have my latest book. And while I teetered a bit with fauxtoriety, when it's all said and done, I'm just the same girl who at age six wanted to run hard after Jesus.

I'm rethinking and RE-EMBRACING truths I knew long, long, long, ago & which I laid a bit to the wayside during four years in particular. Four years which by all outward appearances were "blessed." Well, God and I know different and it is only by His grace and determined pursuit of discipline in my life that those years were redeemed for anything meaningful.

Four years wandering here and there, all the while talking & quoting scripture and landing killer marketing ops.

Four years hearing the Spirit of God whisper say only this, "Duplicity, duplicity, duplicity."

Four years of increasing divine silence.

Four years of covert rebellion.

Four wasted years for kingdom purposes.

How thankful I am for the truth of II Timothy 2:13, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." I look back on those years and see Him. All four books written during those years are out of print. So be it if it means I follow more closely to Him. Relationships counter to the purposes of God during those years are gone too. So be it also, for neither man nor woman can lead, direct, guide, or inspire the way that He is able. (And yes, I'm including myself in that statement.)

1. Why do you think people are so amazed when an ordinary woman (or man) displays incredible talent?

2. Has there ever been a time when you realized others were caught off guard by the talent, wit, intelligence, humor, or ability, you demonstrated in a specific area of life? Why were they surprised?

3. What has been lost or taken from you that you can look back on and say with absolute peace, "So be it."

4. Is there any area of your life in which the Spirit of God is whispering, "duplicity." If so, are you willing to let it go and to quit toying with it? What specific thing do you need to relinquish in order to take a step of obedience and living a life of truth?