Want a challenge? Try explaining the word “oxymoron” to a
child. Sure, a great first stab at the
explanation is using some examples: almost exactly, freezer burn, definitely
maybe, seriously funny, pretty ugly, jumbo shrimp, or silent scream. In fact, there are websites that list hundreds of common oxymorons we use in everyday conversations.
How about a life oxymoron? Perhaps not a
grammatical oxymoron made of two words, but one of those paradoxical ways we
live life: The desire to be known inside and out all the while attempting to hide who we truly
are for fear of other people's perceptions of us or the fear of not being loved for
who we are.
Resonate?
Recognizable to anyone?
See the irony? Yes, more than two words, more
than a mere oxymoron, but the essence is the same. A desire to be known, all the while pouring
heart and soul into perfecting a perception of who we think we should be. The perceptions we adorn can be wrapped in
clothing, jobs, location, political stances, or how bold we are in standing
for the Lord. If we give off the “right”
perception, then the “right people” will want to know us. Right?
And if the “right” people get to know us….well,
is there anything better than being known by the “right” people? (But wait….they
don’t really know us, they just know the “right” perception of us).
Back to being known. Not by the “right” front we put on, but
really being known.
Last week I was at a professional development
training listening to an incredible speaker who illustrated a point about how
we all want to be known. Living in the
East, she referred to riding on the subway, noticing a stranger deeply
engrossed in a book that she had just read.
She commented on her overwhelming desire to make eye contact with the
stranger just to suggest a familiarity because of a shared interest in a book. Her point she was making was the innate
desire to be known….that even with strangers we look for connections just to
find someone who understands us.
We want to be known. So why the masks? Why the
analyzing of our actions? Why the guarding of ourselves at times? Why pretend to be someone we are not? Not consistently necessarily, but certainly
at times.
So that we can become known…
The oxymoron of being known but not for who we
really are on the inside.
Reminder: God knows me inside and
out. Regardless of any person I pretend
to be.
I just don’t think I can be reminded of this
truth enough:
Psalm 139 (1-5, 13-16)
1 “You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me…
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me…
13 For you created
my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be…”
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be…”
Thankfully, I am already known.
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