Let's (Not) Play Pretend!

I posted on Facebook that I received an email from a spammer who wanted some personal information and I could become a secret shopper of sorts.  The email said I would “pretend” to be a normal customer looking for a particular service or product.  After my pretend shopping experience, I would need to fill out a questionnaire and then I would get paid.

After getting over how ridiculous this email was, I began to wonder how much pretending I already do in my day-to-day.

I, and most likely you too, go on every day pretending to be someone or something we’re not.  Granted, sometimes pretending isn't bad, like when we are playing with our kids or starring in a big budget Hollywood movie.  But other times, it can be downright harmful. 

I know I’m not the only one, so as a reminder, here are 3 places and ways that we do some pretty harmful pretending:

Home:  I’m not completely honest with my wife and kids all of the time.  I have convinced myself that as a husband and father, I must always be the one that has all of the answers when sometimes “I don’t know” is the best response I can give, and should give.  I do my wife and kids a tremendous disservice by lying to them and letting them believe I have it all figured out. 

Work:  People will do almost anything to get ahead at their job.  We are all constantly trying to get just one step higher on the ladder of success and we’ll say anything to get there.  I tend to take on more than I should at work and when that happens, I am forced to humble myself and ask for help.  A better response would be to be humble in the beginning and admit that I can’t handle the workload and ask for help from the very beginning.

Church:  The one place where we can go and admit that we don’t have it all together is also the one place where most people think they must have it all together just to be there.  We walk through the doors smiling and cheerful, we serve in every ministry position we can, and we go to every class and special event just so that everyone else believes we are ok.  We’re not, none of us are…and that’s ok, especially in church.

Let’s all agree, people, to stop the pretending and let’s just start being honest with each other…and ourselves.  I don’t always practice this, but I’m working on it. 

Once you stop the pretending, you’ll discover (as I have when I actually follow my own advice) that it’s freeing to know that you don’t have to put on a façade every time you have any human interaction.