Tell Me Something Real

Amy Grant has a song with a lyric which says, "Tell me something real and nothing more." This line spears me in the heart every time I hear the song, because that's the only way I want to live my life anymore. I don't want to deal strictly on the surface, with fake platitudes that have no meaning to me. Life is too short to live with that kind of waste.

The older I get, the more valuable my time becomes to me. I want to look people in the eyes and be honest with them, telling them how I really feel and not bowing to any pressure to say or do anything that doesn't feel true to me. When I look around me, I see people everywhere who are happy to stay on the surface, creating a reality that feels true to them, but doesn't seem genuine to me.

Searching for truth, and finding it, causes me to hunger for more truth. It makes the false things of life more glaringly obvious. It's like finding a real diamond in a sea of cubic zirconia and instantly recognizing its true value. I want my relationships to mean something, my discussions to lead me somewhere, and for honesty to ring out in my dealings with all people.

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that not everyone is comfortable with this way of life. I can't force it on others any more than they can make me shy away from my focus on deeper truth. We must all respect each other, and where I have freedom in one area, I recognize that I have limitations in another. It's all a learning process, every single day, and I have discovered that I grow when I push myself beyond what is comfortable for me, and that's the place I want to live.

I choose to surround myself with as many like-minded individuals as possible, and where my life intersects with those who struggle to "tell me something real", I will have to remember when I was younger and had a hard time being honest, and be understanding of what they can and cannot give me. I can adjust my expectations accordingly, and try to manage my disappointment, and work to get those needs for truth met elsewhere.