Some lies die hard.

Some are bigger than others, and they go down deep and then take root and if we aren’t aware they can take up residency as if they were there from the beginning…part of who we are.

Time and attention and reiteration grow these lies, just like sun and water and oxygen and time grow healthy things.

Lies cloud our vision, yet they’re so part of our normal we don’t know our vision is cloudy. When someone speaks the truth to us, shows us the light, are we even able to conceive it? Plus, we’ve taken the time to reinforce these messages to ourselves, that we’ve heard them so much, well, aren’t they true?

A lie can establish itself in our heads and hearts and even our senses, what we see and speak and hear ourselves, until we deep down believe what we perceive as reality to be truth.

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One example of how lies have gone deep for me is in my 43 ½ years of life, looking back on every single photo, or when I look in the mirror, I’m not able to see what’s there. I only see what I wish was there. For example, I’ve done yoga for 10 years and I also lift weights. When I’m in a routine and can see some muscles making their way to the surface, sometimes I’ll flex and check it out in the mirror…don’t tell me you’ve never…well, I’ll see my muscle definition and think, “Man, I wish my arm looked like that…”

Except I’m looking at my own fugging arm, you guys. Or, I’ll be doing a yoga move and see a leg muscle and think, “Huh, I wish my leg looked like that…”

What the hell?! That’s my own fugging leg, too! No one else’s leg is in my yoga routine!

And they are strong because I am strong and it’s really me…except I’m not able to see it.

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The lies we tell ourselves are really where bullying starts. It begins with only us. We bully ourselves by telling ourselves lies about ourselves that just aren’t true…and then we reinforce them every time we make a mistake, “Man, you’re so stupid! Gah, can’t you get anything right?! You are so fat…too skinny, too awkward, too slow, not this enough, not that enough…”

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So, what is true? What is the filter we were designed to view life through? What is the new filter I’ve replaced the faulty one with?

In the beginning, God made them in His image and He said it was GOOD…”

There’s a cheesy little saying that goes like this: “God made me and He doesn’t make junk.” It’s hokey as all get out, catchy, and annoying, but the truthful foundation of the statement is, when God made us, He said it was GOOD. Period.

And that’s the kind of truth I want to water, expose to the light, feed, and nurture…that’s the kind of truth that must dig deep and take root for the GOOD life to spread…it’s the kind of truth we need to believe about ourselves and it’s the same truth Jesus modeled for us to believe about others.

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(photo credits: pixabay user/StockSnap, and Stephanie Gullifer)