I recently said to my friend, as I admired her spring flowers, "They are so perfect, they almost seem fake."
After the words left my mouth, I was thinking how totally backward that statement was.
Weren't fake things: flowers, fruit, art, fingernails, hairpieces all supposed to be made to look like the real thing? And now we have become so accustomed to fake things and their 'perfectness' we don't say how real they look; instead we say the real ones look like the fake ones. Wow. That was a long convoluted thought; I hope you followed my thinking.
I remember when the first fake flowers became popular. They were plastic and although they looked like the real thing from a distance, it was pretty evident they weren't real when you really got closer. Some people, who obviously didn't have green thumbs or time to plant, would put them in their flowerbeds. The plastic red geraniums looked very convincing until they had been in the sun for a few months and began to fade. The real effect was definitely compromised when they were left out a few more months and had snow on them.
Then came the silk flowers and the fake fruit that was truly beautiful and hard to tell from the real thing. There are many advantages to the silk flowers: they don't fade, wilt, die, or need water. You also don't have to buy new ones for each season. Just pack them away and when spring rolls around again, unpack and voila! new flowers.
No matter how beautiful they are, there is something lacking; imperfections. Maybe that is why I commented that my friend's flowers were so real and 'perfect' they looked fake.
Isn't that true of many people, also? They appear fake, because they are so perfect. Perfect marriages, perfect children, perfect friends, perfect finances, perfect occupations, blah, blah, blah. I'm not suggesting we all need to share everything about our lives, but admitting a little imperfection is good for us.
I attended a writing conference last summer. The advice from several agents and publishers was to always be personally transparent. Believe me, it was not necessary to tell me that; I live with my special needs daughter and if I am not honest about something I do or have said, she will tell people exactly how it was.
My grandson who was 8-years-old at the time this picture was taken, mistook this fake apple for a real one, and proceeded to try to take a bite (notice teeth marks). I have kept it around for 7 years to serve as a reminder to myself to always be as 'real' as I can be, in my writing and in my daily life. I believe it is what God would want.
After the words left my mouth, I was thinking how totally backward that statement was.
Weren't fake things: flowers, fruit, art, fingernails, hairpieces all supposed to be made to look like the real thing? And now we have become so accustomed to fake things and their 'perfectness' we don't say how real they look; instead we say the real ones look like the fake ones. Wow. That was a long convoluted thought; I hope you followed my thinking.
I remember when the first fake flowers became popular. They were plastic and although they looked like the real thing from a distance, it was pretty evident they weren't real when you really got closer. Some people, who obviously didn't have green thumbs or time to plant, would put them in their flowerbeds. The plastic red geraniums looked very convincing until they had been in the sun for a few months and began to fade. The real effect was definitely compromised when they were left out a few more months and had snow on them.
Then came the silk flowers and the fake fruit that was truly beautiful and hard to tell from the real thing. There are many advantages to the silk flowers: they don't fade, wilt, die, or need water. You also don't have to buy new ones for each season. Just pack them away and when spring rolls around again, unpack and voila! new flowers.
No matter how beautiful they are, there is something lacking; imperfections. Maybe that is why I commented that my friend's flowers were so real and 'perfect' they looked fake.
Isn't that true of many people, also? They appear fake, because they are so perfect. Perfect marriages, perfect children, perfect friends, perfect finances, perfect occupations, blah, blah, blah. I'm not suggesting we all need to share everything about our lives, but admitting a little imperfection is good for us.
I attended a writing conference last summer. The advice from several agents and publishers was to always be personally transparent. Believe me, it was not necessary to tell me that; I live with my special needs daughter and if I am not honest about something I do or have said, she will tell people exactly how it was.
My grandson who was 8-years-old at the time this picture was taken, mistook this fake apple for a real one, and proceeded to try to take a bite (notice teeth marks). I have kept it around for 7 years to serve as a reminder to myself to always be as 'real' as I can be, in my writing and in my daily life. I believe it is what God would want.
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