I Want To Be An Onion

Confession...I am a salsa fanatic. I can practically drink the stuff. Seriously, there are times when I've had my fill of chips that I'll take a spoon and enjoy a few more tastes of salsa by itself! I guess it's a borderline addiction...just the thought of it makes me want to run to Chili's, Abuelo's, On the Border, or even to my own kitchen to whip some up!

I was making some homemade salsa the other day, and as I put the onion in the food processor, I remembered a message my husband gave at youth group a few weeks ago. He sliced up an entire onion in the teen building while he was speaking (you can imagine how that smelled - and he didn't even cry!), revealing that an onion looks virtually the same all the way through. As you slice it or peel back layer after layer, each layer is practically identical to the one before it. He then went on to talk about how we, as Christians, should strive to be like an onion (without the odor!) - consistent layer by layer - not having a surface layer completely different from our heart.

I want to be an onion. I don't want there to be a "church Jen" and a "home Jen" and an "out with friends Jen" etc... but rather, I want the layers of my life to consistently reveal a girl who loves Jesus and loves people and tries to serve God and encourage others the best I can wherever I am, and whatever I am doing. A life that, even when I blow it and mess up, reveals a sincere heart's desire to do what's right.

I want to be consistent. Not perfect, because no one is or can be. But real. Authentic.

And that's really what this blog is about, right? I named it "Genuine Girl: An Invitation to Authenticity" because I want you to join me in this quest to be real. I don't want you to fall into the trap of putting on a church girl mask that's replaced with another mask when around your friends at school, another one when you are at parties, another when you are around your parents, and on and on it goes. That kind of life is confusing, frustrating, and in the end, self-defeating.

Authentic living isn't always easy - there are days when we will find ourselves reaching for those masks - and it is definitely something we grow into the closer we walk day to day in a real relationship with Jesus Christ. But I have faith that you can do it; that you can aim to live a consistent life for Christ no matter where your day or your life takes you; that you can get back on track when you start going the wrong way; that you can be an onion.

(But one that smells more like Bath and Body Works of course!)

Questions for Thought: Is my faith in God something real that affects every layer of my life, or just a mask I put on when I go to church or youth group? Are there steps I can take to be more real about my love for Jesus? Are there things I need to change so that my attitudes and actions consistently reveal Christian character whether I am at church, home, school, practice, etc..?