Spiritual Spanx

This post was a draft that was sitting in my blog-inbox from June.  There are others (less revealing than this one!) but, I wanted to share this one with the internet world.  Feel free to add your feelings, thoughts.

I was stuck in traffic yesterday. And I pondered my depravity; how jacked up I am on the inside (oh, come on, don't be so hard on yourself). No, seriously, left to myself, alone, my life will be a mess.

Over the course of life, I learn things here and there. Little tidbits that are huge revelations for a life lived in God's wake and will. They look like mountains.  They are exciting pieces of Him that I enjoy learning more and more about, the mountains grow and grow...

And then there's those little, immature parts of me that don't seem to come along very well.  The brush is overgrown, weeds are sprouting in these areas.  These things that puzzle me, I can't get around or through.  These are the valleys...

Enter Spanx.

For those of you who do not know about Spanx, here's a tidbit of pop culture for you. Oprah made Spanx an overnight sensation. I suggest glancing at this for a good description. "Spanx...manufacturing hose...particularly 'body shaping' undergarments and bodysuit shapewear intended to give the wearer a slim and shapely appearance."  If it isn't awkward enough that Oprah talked about it, here I am...


Note: I am in no way trying to convince you of, or against, these things. Yes, they have man-spanx. I imagine that's what they call them, anyways. Saw them at a dept. store a few months ago.

Stay with me.

So, they kinda form the body to make it look "right."  This post is not about dragging out any superficial or physical horse to again beat. Nope. Go get some man-spanx.  This is not a criticism of the product.

What I was thinking about while in traffic yesterday is the temptation to "smooth out" the mountains and valleys of who we are on the inside, in the process:

A.) Accepting false humility.
B.) Accepting false pride.

We put on our spiritual spanx, and we lose both strengths and weaknesses.

In talking with a good friend of mine today, I realized that there are some people who see both our valleys and mountains.  It's good to have friends that see all the 'stuff' inside.  If i'm so obsessed with 'smoothing out' the details of the body part I am (with my strengths AND weaknesses) in the end, I get to be no body part.

"Comparison is the thief of Joy."  And it could cause us to put on the spirit-spanx - obsessing more with the overall outward appearance of self, wasting all the energy on the Joy of who I am - who we each are.

I'm also keeping out those who could offer me their strength, wisdom or life revelation in the ways I am weak.  They could encourage me to be who I am.  Oh, Did I mention that this whole thing doesn't work with God?  Tried that...just trust me.

"Spanx?"
"No Spanx. I'm trying to quit."