Facades

I thought you guys might like to see a photograph of my house. I realize that many of you have never met me and this is a nice opportunity to share a little of my life with you.
What’s that? You doubt this is my house? You don’t think I really live in this place? Well! Indeed!
Does it seem a little silly? Did you ever really believe for a moment that this is where I live?
No? Huh.
Well, it is silly. This isn’t my house. This is the Hearst Castle, a.k.a. San Simeon. Truth be told, even the Hearsts couldn’t support this beauty, it’s now a state park.
My house is much more humble than San Simeon. San Smith is actually a 60+ year old bungalow with a ribbon drive and in need of much repair and remodeling. In addition to its structural challenges are the people who dwell there in various states of disarray and disorganization. Oh, and it’s not nestled in the mountains either, or on the Pacific coast. Or even in a particularly nice neighborhood.
I’m not proud of my house. It’s not that I have dreams of a more impressive abode. The thing that makes me un-proud is that we don’t take good care of our house. So I don’t really want people dropping by. I don’t like the way my house represents me.
It would make sense then, for me to take care of things. I should be a better, MUCH BETTER housekeeper. That’s a no-brainer. I should put those twenty pairs of tennis shoes at the front door in a closet and hang up the multiple jackets thrown on the dining room chairs. I should sweep the floor and dust the end tables and scrub the bathroom.
The Mr. should do the yard work and keep up the exterior and put his pop bottles in the bag on the stairwell instead of leaving them in the living room at night.
Daboyz should stop making a general mess of things with backpacks and schoolbooks and cereal bowls.
You get the idea. We are all contributing to this less than mansion-esque abode we occupy.
So I don’t have people over. Of course, my anti-social personality doesn’t do much to inspire change.
But have you ever had one of those moments sitting in your messy house when you hear a car pull up in your driveway unannounced? In general, here’s the Smith response;
“Oh crap!”
Because we really don’t want people to see how we live. We’d like a little warning so we can prepare a facade. Stage things to look like we don’t live this way.
The older I get, the less facades satisfy me. I don’t want to be someone too proud to let people see my messy living room. I want to either clean it up, or be honest enough to show it. Facades wear me out.
Likewise, I don’t want to be in relationships built on smoke and mirrors. I can deal with a lot of garbage, but insincerity isn’t one of the things I tolerate well.
Most importantly, I want to pull down the facades around my heart. Some of those are so tall and wide that I myself wonder what’s behind them. I wonder if I’m brave enough to peek around the corners and let God do some remodeling or if I’m truly so attached to the props that I prefer to go on pretending.
I have made a little headway around San Smith. I will tell you you can’t come in because my house is trashed. At least I’m honest.
I haven’t gone as far as I’d like, to the point where I am a good keeper of this home so I don’t have to choose between letting you see the mess or turning you away.
I would like to be invited into your heart too. Facades torn down for honest conversations and real relationships to flourish.
I want to expose the hidden corners of my heart to God so he can show them to me in through the reflection of the cross.
The problem with living in a bungalow and pretending it’s a mansion is that you start to believe your own press and pretty soon, there’s nothing real left.
And nobody left to be real with.
Including yourself.
Including God.
You have to be brave to open the door and admit that you’ve gotten a little sloppy. Or a lot messy.
But once you do, God shows you how beautiful it can be.
To be real.
And not behind a facade.
He’s calling us....
Come out, come out wherever you are.
Anybody out there?

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.