Esse Quam Videri

I came across this postcard yesterday:



At first I just noticed it because I like the photograph, and the inscription was beautiful. Then I noticed the bottom... Esse Quam Videri. Latin. I didn't know what it meant, so I looked it up on Google, and the meaning literally rocked me: To Be rather than to Seem. Wow. Wouldn't that be great in every aspect of life? In how many situations do we try to seem to be that which we are not?

What are you? I mean REALLY? Not what do you seem to be. Not what do you project yourself into, but really honestly what are you?

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.

-- Exodus 6: 2-3 (KJV)

God is the Great I AM. He simply is. Jehovah: I am that I am.

Don't you long for a sense of being as strong as that? Don't you wish that your identity was unquestionable because you simply are? I am at a place now where I am wanting to strip away anything that isn't as it seems because I long for the freedom of being what I am, or at least becoming what I am.

God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.

--Romans 8:16 (MSG)

That is who I am. And you know what? Nothing else matters.

To Be Rather Than To Seem

All is not as it seems.
Perfection doesn't arrive wrapped up in a package
waiting eagerly to be opened
and worn over the drabness of life.
I cannot see what I am
therefore I am what I see.
My smile laughs back at me, knowing the truth
about the lie I make myself believe
to sleep at night.
Can the veil be removed so I can see clearly
or will my vision always be blurred?

I have a dream:
Esse Quam Videri.

Phoenix
21 Feb. 06