I have this friend. For the sake of this blog post let’s call him “Dr. Awesome.” Dr. Awesome is a pretty cool dude. People think he is smart, they say he is wise and they remark all the time about how kind he is. The good doc has even been called funny a few times!? Doc has a bunch of these folks called “followers,” not only the kind you get on social media but some of the kind we are blessed to earn in real life. This is all very true of my friend Doc.
What is also true about Doc is that he can do some pretty dumb things, make some pretty unwise remarks and, yes you guessed it, he can be unkind or even get angry at times. Doc hates when he forgets just how precious a gift it is to have people that care about him and look up to him, both around him and interacting with him on virtual venues. He dreads most, when unwise and unkind things come out of his mouth and hurt those people. The ironic thing is, the recipients of this “less than desirable” behavior are usually the people who know Doc the best, those of us that are closest to him; his wife, his kids, his parents, sisters, fellow leaders, and closest friends. Just like the old tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is when Dr. Awesome turns into Mr. (other two-syllable A word).
Does this make Doc a bad person? Of course not! It makes him human. You see Doc has this other friend. One we have in common, let’s just call Him, for the sake of this blog, “Jesus.”
Our mutual friend Jesus is pretty cool. When Doc and I screw up, He is there to help us remove our head from our butt. He reminds us that we are fallible.
He’s this kind of father/friend hybrid that Doc and I can turn to when we mess up.
He helps us recognize that our true value and worth is neither found in those mistakes nor in the idealized, Instagram version of ourselves.
He helps us remember who we were created to be.
Doc wants me to tell you about our mutual friend and they want me to tell you that it’s OK. They want you to know that no matter how different the Instagram looks from the real life kitchen calamity, we all mess up. We are all broken and none of us is going to get it right 100% of the time, no matter what the perfectionistic slogans say on Pinterest or Facebook.
I am thankful for both of my friends and for all of you.
The simplest way I’ve heard this said is that we need each other and we need God. In fact, my friend Jesus said that.
If you see my buddy “Doc,” even if you see him in your mirror tomorrow am, let him know your rooting for him.
..and…for what it is worth…I’m rooting for him too.
Good word