Genuine!

My mom and I just returned from a retreat. We were in the foothills of the beautiful Ozark Mountains in Missouri. It has been a tradition for my mom to attend this retreat...I think this was the 11th time she has been a participant. I was finally able to go with her and it was great. It was fun, thought provoking, healing and refreshing.

Once we got to the retreat center, the first thing we did is check in at registration. Since there are people from all different cities, one of the things they ask is that the participants wear name tags. One of the traditions is that every name tag has a positive adjective on it. The name tags are blank except for the one word on the tag. They are placed upside down so that you cannot read the words that are on the name tags.

After you register your arrival, you are suppose to select your name tag (without looking) and put your name on it. The fun thing is that this word is YOUR description, your very own word for the weekend. You are to BE this word all weekend. You are the only one with this word and the word is your very own word from God. I think that some people are more pleased with their words than others are. One word was "humble"....hmmmm. I wonder how this person felt about her word. My mom's word was "amazing". She didn't seem too comfortable with it but everyone that knows her agreed that it was, in fact, HER word. (she gave the credit to God being amazing) I found it interesting that most of the words seemed to have some sort of obvious reason that they were attached to the person wearing them.

I selected my name tag, apprehensive being the first time I had participated in this retreat. I was a little excited and a little nervous about my word. Could I live up to it? Would people agree with it? After all, only a handful of people knew me and only my mother knows me well. I looked at the basket of name tags, took a deep breath, and selected my tag. I quickly turned it over and read the word that had been carefully written on the front...

GENUINE

How funny! How perfect! How like God...to continue to confirm and affirm everything that He has been showing me. He helped me be comfortable and He challenged me in a new situation.
Webster's defines genuine as: sincere and honest

Real.

God is good. He is funny. And He really wants me to be real!