breakfast and being transparent.

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.

-A.A. Milne

Good morning! Shall you come over for a steaming mug of coffee, tea, or chai? I'd love it if you would! The air here is just crisp enough for a nice hot mug of something....besides, there will be toast with honey and that just makes mornings worth waking up for! And, I've definitely discovered that I'm in love with meeting friends early in the morning, before the day has really begun, and becoming lost in whomever I'm meeting and whatever they might be saying at said time. So, consider this your open invitation to come meet me for breakfast anytime to talk about whatever might be on your heart....because, there are times when you just need someone to listen to all the words that have built up, all the thoughts you think no one will understand, all the words that want to come out so much they hurt. Yeah. I know that feeling.

On my heart this morning? A lot. Most of all? Being transparent. Not transparent in the "good grief that woman doesn't hide anything at all, EVER" kind of way. Being transparent in the way that projects who I really am into the way I write, that showcases the real person I am on this blog, and actually connects all this with who I am in real life. Because, if I wanted to be someone completely different than me, this would be the perfect place to do it. However, that is not at all what I want to do. I want to write here and have you know me, and then meet me in real life and say "that's exactly what I thought she'd be like!" I want to write only what I'd actually say and talk about for real, beyond the vast space of the internet. This has really been on my heart the last couple days since starting another blog.

I've seen way too often lately just how much our ideas of people, who they are, what we thought they'd be like, especially those we esteem, connects and molds how we look and think about God. Not that this is a good thing. We should never allow how someone else is to influence how we think about our God, but the reality is that this does actually happen. I've let it happen in my own life. But, I don't ever want to let someone influence my perception of who He is again....and hence, I don't want to live my life in such a way that when others look at me, I skew their perception of who Jesus is. I desire to be transparent, to be the "what you see is what you get" kind of woman, the woman who demonstrates Jesus's character, gives glory to Him, and points others to do the same thing. Because, honestly, that's all that matters at the end of the day, that I've showcased who He is, that I've had no pretenses with those around me, and that they've left me thinking of Him.

Will I mess up? Yes. Will I let those around me down? You can count on it, because I'm human, because I screw up, but Jesus has looked at me and said, "Yet, I love you too much to leave you the way you are." So, it is a continuous pattern of striving to be like Him, of falling but as soon as we see what tripped us, to jump up and not let our foot get caught in the same dip in the road. Most of all, it's being transparent, not pretending like I didn't fall or never get it wrong, but to be able to say "I fell! I messed up! But He is bigger than me and through His power in me, through His Spirit living in me, I'm getting back up and giving all the glory to Him!!"

This is what's on my heart this morning. That and I hope you're pressing into Him, that you're gazing into His eyes and longing even more to know who He truly is. Because, He loves you....a lot.

© Jade Valcarcel 2012. All rights reserved