Faker, Faker, Faker

Phony. 

Poser. 

Scam artist. 

Fraud. 

Imposter. 

Deceiver.

Listen to those labels. None are good. In our culture we demand that others are genuine (aside from our presidential candidates, apparently). Few are - lying has become an art form of sorts; however, get caught being less than yourself, and you risk being branded like this, with little way to repair the reputation.

I used to be in this boat, demanding accuracy in all my statements as well as those of others, refusing to pretend. I wanted to "get real" and "just be myself." I think I was wrong.

In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis encourages Christians to fake it sometimes. The goal, however, isn't to fool others; it's to fool yourself into becoming exactly what you're pretending to be. Writes Lewis, "Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already." Getting more specific: "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."

What I'm beginning to realize is that it isn't just sometimes that we ought to "fake it"; most of us would be better off if we faked it all the time. We are far less than we should be. If I behave as genuinely impatient and self-centered as I actually am, I couldn't function with others. My nature, my natural, fallen condition means that in my heart, daily, I'm out to get mine. I want to know what's in it for me. 

I can begin every day revealing how tired, grumpy, and irritated I really am, or I can decide to at least appear as if I'm loving and excited to be doing what I'm doing. When I remember to pretend, usually I become loving and excited. 

Some days you've just got to fake it, especially those days you don't feel like being good. So go be an imposter. Pretend to be disciplined. Pretend to be patient with your spouse and kids. Pretend to be dedicated to your job, whether you like it or not. Pretend that today, whether it's a Tuesday morning or Sunday afternoon, is going to be a good day. You might just end the day genuine after all.