The organization I work for hosts a number of camps every year and each one is basically my favorite.
Except for the one that’s only for boys. It’s not my favorite.
Any who. During camp and post-camp, I often find myself talking to students that have attended or even friends/co-workers that experienced it with me, and saying over and over again: camp life is not real life.
It’s easy to go to camp, surrounded by tons of like-minded people, and get into the groove of life. For 3 days. Then BOOM – back home to a pile of laundry on your bed.
And I’ve come to find the same thing to be true with the Bachelor franchise.
Bachelor life is not real life.
Yet, we somehow treat it like it is.
I talked last week about us idolizing love, and how we are obsessed with finding our “true love.” Which brings me back to real life.
We look at celebrities, at ‘reality’ tv shows, at magazines, Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Vine/Pinterest/SnapChat/(have I missed anything?) accounts, and think, “YUP, this is it. THIS is what’s real. This is what I need to strive for. That 6 week relationship that ended with a tv engagement…that’s what I’m missing.”
One problem: IT ISN’T REAL!
Sure, the people are real, but the situations aren’t. The problems aren’t. The reality isn’t.
Just this week, on the season finale of Bachelor in Paradise, every couple still left on the show said some version of: “yeah, paradise has been nice, but it’ll be hard entering back into the real world.”
Yet we, as the viewers/consumers, only desire to take in the edited version of a short period of life that is designed for television.
And that’s why it’s so easy to put love, and tv relationships, on a pedestal. We only see the “good stuff” and, if we’re not careful, we come to believe that our lives aren’t truly full. They aren’t good enough. They aren’t exciting.
We come to believe that we’re the ones not living in real life.
Real life is hard. It’s full of heartbreak, disappointment, bad coffee, and stale chips.
BUT. It’s also beautiful because it’s redeemed by a loving God that calls us worthy and beloved.
May we focus on the realness of the Lord today. May we realize that He gives us the realest life imaginable.
*to see Sue get really excited about a friend’s engagement, click here!
Kayla Smith 