The battle for impressions

Dear God,
What is your 1st impression of me?
(I love it when you look at me like that)
(I thought they said nothing shocks you? They haven’t seen us together yet).
I was thinking about the power of 1st impressions and how it can be so misleading.
Let me tell you a story.
We were asked to watch a movie in a leadership class. The movie had no sounds or words, and we were meant to input our interpretations and discuss it in our groups based strictly on our 1st impressions. No logic, no reasoning. Just 1st impressions.
So, they showed two men, and both of them were meant to be powerful C-level businessmen operating the same business but in different regions.
The 1st man walked into a religious premises and had a meeting with someone who looked like a bishop or supreme head of sort. Because we couldn’t hear the words, we could only assume the conversations based on the expressions on their faces as they talked.
The second man entered a non-descript bar that led into some gun factories and ended into a very posh and affluent executive office to meet a weird, dangerous looking man.
All the way to the posh office, dangerous men with guns and all manners of weapons stood at strategic locations.
Again, the man had his voiceless meeting and left. Again, from their expressions, we made our judgments.
We were meant to answer 3 questions.
Who did they meet?
What did they talk about?
What is our impression of the men?
And guess what, Lord?
Each group came back with the same verdict interpreted in different ways.
Bottomline was….
We believed the 1st man met with a religious leader and sorted for help for his organization while the second man met with a cartel for a possible unlawful business deal.
We believed the 1st man was a good man who did business the right way, while the other may break some laws and wheeldeal to get ahead.
Different presentations, same verdict based on 1st impressions.
Finally, they played the video again with voice, and we were holistically shocked.
The 1st man was actually the wheel dealer. The religious setting was a camouflage. That was his base to disseminate instructions. He was actually planning some murders.
The second guy, yes, walked into a dangerous cartel, but he came to warn them of the community they were terrorizing and how he would fight back.
We stared in shock again at the movie. I had to watch it again with and without voice and marveled at the strength of deception created by 1st impressions.
Be careful about 1st impressions.
Never judge a book by its cover…..just read it or leave it!
Be careful how you judge people by 1st impressions.
Do you know how far people will go to fake it up just to impress you?
Especially you, Lord, I am sure you know how many people have been hurt by people who give off impressions of religious personalities but ripple deception.
Imagine meeting someone on a day that he or she has personal battles to fight and you walk away with an impression forever…..
My perspective is that 1st impressions may be fixed, so you need to test for the authenticity, consistency, and test for true types.
Stay away from judgments. Don’t pass a card on someone unless you are wearing their shoes at the same point in time.
People have borrowed things, jewelries, cars, and clothes just to make an impression in a gathering.
People borrow to live in certain areas to create that impression.
Hold your judgment, and look beyond the now. Not all that glitters is gold.
Not all 1st impressions matter.
Becareful of the flash cards, especially on social media. It may be fixed to impress.
So, I have this friend who flashed a card on her husband on social media on his birthday. What she wrote about the man just blew my mind. I was so impressed so I called her. I was going on and on about her birthday vibes when she bust into tears suddenly.
And then she came out with the truth, the abuse, the intimidation, and the emotional pressure on her in the marriage.
I was totally foxed. So if you are this unhappy, why give off the superhappy vibes. You are practically enabling the abuse because you have given him a platform to hide in.
You don’t have to celebrate a lie…..for who? For what? Who cares, babe?
So, Lord, you see why you always love me, whether I make a good impression or not.
Your steadfast love is new every morning. So even if I whined yesterday, my today with you is new and refreshed.
Even if I come today ranting and venting, my tomorrow will be new and refreshed.
You have only one impression of me…..Love, shikina.
Nothing changes that. Nothing will ever change that. That’s freedom.
So, in good days and bad days. In good times and bad times…..You are who you are, and I am who You said I am in you.
What a blessing, what a gift, what a taste of being free……I have absolutely no need to make impressions……1st or last.
It is what it is.
Thank you, Lord.
This is your daughter, free to fly, yet checking in.