"On Pictures vs. Reality"

Recently I was described as being "a hippy girl."  I harbor no personal bias against hippies and knew the term was meant in the most complimentary way.  However, this description collided head-on with a picture I have carried in my mind for years with the fantasy of fulfillment one day.  That is the picture of my becoming a lady, a sophisticate even.  You can stop laughing now!  I can hear family members and those who know me and my lifestyle roaring with laughter as I am anything and everything but--a lady, that is.

The thing about a picture is that it is an image, one that is fabricated in one's imagination, and it has a tendency to hang around for a long time.  There is nothing real about these pictures.  We color them as we choose, we shade them, we distort them, we create the image that suits us, often in a way that makes us feel good.  That would be a "pretty" picture.

We live in a world of pictures created in our own minds.  We have the history of past experiences and can only live in the present, in this moment, at this point in time.  Tomorrow is an unknown, and we deal with it by imagining what is going to happen, what is going to be, or what life will be like.  Enter (drum roll please): Reality.  Our pictures will always collide with reality, that which is actual or real, and reality will always come out on top. 

 Each and every one of us has our own set of pictures rolling around within us.  No one sees them or even knows they exist unless we decide to share them.  How many of us have had a picture of what parenthood would be like? Maybe retirement or a new job.  Perhaps a vacation trip, a holiday with the family, a new pet, a change in lifestyle, a relationship--need I go on?  When reality takes place, the comments usually begin with, "I thought" and end with "but......." 

I maintain that man has only pictures of God as well, and they are far removed from reality.  We have ideas, images of what He is like and what He will or won't do, and we believe them and state them as absolute truths.  How do I know?  I was the worst offender.  I am challenging you to find the truth for yourself.  You just might be pleasantly surprised.  I was.  He doesn't abide by any of the rules "I thought" He did. He's not into game playing or manipulation and simply wants friendship.  It's as simple as asking Him what He is really like.  In reality, what do you have to lose?  Just a lot of pictures.  What do you have to gain?  All that is real.

Back to the evaporation of my picture, the sophisticate.  In truth, I talk far too loudly, laugh with too much fervor, and walk too hard to ever be a lady.  I have zero poise and dress and work like the gardener I am.   It has never been in my DNA to be a lady and, at the age of 69, even my prettiest picture is never going to happen.  I'm all in favor of embracing the reality of that hippy girl.  Besides, a lady wouldn't be caught dead wearing the big, floppy gardening hat that I love.