Another Face

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.”
-William Shakespeare

This week's Gun's Quote inspiration comes from a friend of mine whose friends made a video on YouTube.

I have been trying to make friends down here in my new "home" in suburban Kansas City. You know what? It's hard. This isn't like college where you are daily surrounded by literally hundreds of other people your age. Now don't get me wrong, I work in a very young office, but even then, it's only about 15 guys, and we don't have the same interests.

I joined the Young Adults group at church, and volunteered for the Life Teen program, which is essentially the high school Youth Group. Anybody who knows me knows that I love to get involved with stuff and help people out where/when I can.

This past week I was reminded that I do not have many strong relationships with the people around me yet. I went to the first Young Adult Bible Study, and was "the new guy." Nobody knows how to talk to you, and you don't know how talk to other people. You end up having that pointless small-talk conversation with others, if you have any conversation at all.

The teens had a Halloween Party on Wednesday, which was nice, but still, I haven't been there long enough to be someone to converse with yet.

Friday night, just when I thought I was going to go the entire week visiting all these groups and not feeling like a part of any of them, the music minister at church (who is roughly my age and lives by himself, for now) shoots me a Facebook message and suggests doing something together that night.

Finally! A friendship!

Then tonight at church, a couple of the teens seem to finally be warming up to me as well. I'm learning names, we can have a conversation that isn't incredibly uncomfortable, etc.

We all put on faces. Whether we admit it or not, sometime in our life, we weren't exactly honest with somebody else. Maybe it wasn't a matter of honesty... maybe we just simply withheld the truth.

My bit of "withholding truth" was the fact that the last couple of weeks were, well, kinda rough. Nobody likes being alone, and everybody wants somebody to talk to, but sometimes, it's just easier to pretend like nothing is wrong and go with the flow because we would rather people not know anything about us than to know that we are hurting, even if it's just temporary or minor. I am guilty as charged.

So why throw it out there now? I'm not looking for pity points, but I am looking to be more authentic to myself, and others. I don't benefit from not telling my friends the truth, they don't benefit from hearing me tell stories, and vice-versa.

So, this week, the challenge to everybody is to find at least one friend and honestly share with him/her where you are at in your life. No faces. No gimmicks. Just let it out. Be authentic.

Enjoy the video.

Video Credits: Stephanie Bruning, Hudson Kemna, Hilarie Andrews, Maddison Tobin, Mallory Dahmer, David Weber, Jeff Burnett.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/wat​ch?v=NMccLTozR1s

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!