By Brenda Cannon Henley
Pretending to be something or someone we aren’t has to be physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally exhausting. Doing it day after day for me would be unthinkable, and I thank the dear Lord I learned long ago that I am me, and only me. I have no desire to be someone else at this stage of the game. Now, mind you, I would not object to having the large amounts of money some seem to have, to shop at will, and to give to whomever I chose for no real reason. But, to change me into being something I am not would not be worth that price. When you are barely five feet tall and built low to the ground, you simply learn to accept the fact and move forward with your life.

William Shakespeare, the famous bard wrote, “This above all: to thine ownself be true.” Boy, did he ever nail it on the head.

A lot of us go through phases where we think we have to be, act, and look like everyone else in order to fit in with society. I confess I tried it, and it just did not work for me. I have lived long enough now to realize that God doesn’t want an orchestra of identical instruments all playing the same tune. How boring would that be? What if everyone played only the clarinet? What if some chose the piano and would not budge? What about the percussion section of the orchestra? Truthfully, we need every member playing his chosen instrument to make beautiful music. So it is with life.

I turned loose of the status quo and the expectations others seem to have of me, and decided to just be me. I like fishing, so I go fishing as often as I can. I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl (for the most part), so I cleaned out my closet to allow easy access to the jeans and shirts I prefer. I do have dressier clothing for occasions that I deem necessary to wear that kind of garmentry. I enjoy country style cooking, so that’s what I cook, and I love to clean up the kitchen, so I almost always do that, too. Not necessarily big tasks, but they bring me joy. I also enjoy operating the big yard tractor, so I cut most of our grass.

What brought this subject to my mind in a fresh and different manner is that my husband and I decided to go see a movie at the mall the other afternoon and after we watched the film, we walked into the busy mall. He had something he wanted to look for, and so I sat on a bench and simply watched the people go by, hurrying back and forth from one store to another. The thing that quickly caught my eye was that almost every teenaged girl had on a similar outfit. The colors may have varied some, but the majority of them looked like the same person had chosen their clothing.

I decided to watch the young men for a while, and boy, was that ever eye opening. They, too, looked almost alike except for the color of their clothing. When did we, as a nation, start turning out these broomstick type look alikes? I honestly do not remember my teen generation looking so “programmed” in the clothing we chose. Perhaps it was because we may not all have had the money to buy the trendy jeans, sweaters, hats, and boots. Looking back, I loved our individuality and it’s been great to see how God has used each person in our groups.

But the big surprise was in the adults, or those who appeared to be adults. Two or three different groups of folks seemed to meet friends, both young and old, and I’ve never seen such pretend joy, smiles, air kisses, and posing and modeling. I also watched while two groups decided to take photos. What is it with this “chicken wing pose?” A friend of mine had written about it, but I don’t think it had truly registered with me until my visit to the mall. Whichever girl or grown woman ended up being on the end of the group stuck out her arm in a kind of a v-shape pose, touching her hand on her hip. Is this supposed to make your arm look smaller or you look more elegant? I could see where my friend got the idea of the “chicken wing pose.” The ladies did look sort of like chickens spreading their wings.

I believe that God wants each of us to be us. He created each individual person and He knows what the big plan is for our lives.

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well (fully).” (Psalm 139:14)

(February 4, 2013)

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