OK, so I recently saw this movie called Dan in Real Life. It is the story of a single dad who is trying to raise three girls (two of which happen to be teenagers) and climb the corporate ladder as a writer all the while dealing with the death of his wife. Life turns into a tangled mess as he goes home for a family reunion only to fall in love with his brother’s girlfriend! Needless to say, things aren’t too pretty in Dan’s world. But the overall moral of the story was to live what you preach, or in Dan’s case what you write! You see, Dan was a newspaper columnist and he had the privilege of giving advice to many readers. He discovered, however, that he wasn’t following his own advice regarding attributes such as honesty, integrity, and family priorities. He saw his downfalls, recovered from them, admitted his weaknesses, and moved on. Dan experienced a “beauty from pain” situation (check out my posts under the category “beauty from pain”) and made the best of it.
As I walked away from the movie, I thought about my own life. I too have a story, Emily in Real Life. I am a daughter striving to teach my parents how to raise a teenager (just kidding!); I am a student working towards attaining a law degree; I am an athlete running towards good health; and I am a writer asking God to use her pen. Much like Dan, I reflect on my life and compare it to the advice I publish on my blog. Am I living what I write? Some days yes, others not. And on those days I am not living up to my own advice, I face the reality check of logging on to my own blog and re-reading what I have written. I am trying to keep myself accountable. This is me in real life. I am just a human like you walking down this dusty trail called life.
Let’s keep pressing on and strive to be real!
You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Romans 2:21
