The word “ephemeral” was one of my favorite words in Grade 7.
I associated it with fairies and gossamer wings. Don’t feel inferior if you don’t know what “ephemeral” means. It’s just a word.
Ephemeral means “fleeting, short-lived, very brief and temporary.”
As in, “The ephemeral joy of seeing her crush made her forget the D she got in Physics.” We get the drift, right? That’s as highschool as we can get.
There are countless ephemeral things that we foolishly waste our lives on.
Like the ephemeral joys of social climbing – which is a shallow preoccupation. It rarely brings deep friendships. It rarely even raises one’s social status because people can tell if one is inserting oneself into a place where one doesn’t belong. It causes undue stress to the social climber. To be found out can be the end of a social climber’s world. Death by rejection. What if you’re not invited? What if you’re not included in the next photo op? What if people deduce that you don’t really belong?!! Horrors.
Then there’s the ephemeral joy of being pretentious. Pretending to be this or that: intelligent, clever, powerful, sophisticated, tech-savvy, wealthy, well-connected. Ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I know someone who painstakingly developed an American twang – in the hope that she’d be mistaken for someone who studied in the US or in IS.
Heaven knows why. But that was her goal. Only to be asked one day, point-blank: “Did you really go to school in the States? Or is that a fake American accent?” This, from a rich kid who was inordinately forthright… and curious. Dead silence at our table. Then someone faked a cough and changed the subject. There went the ephemeral accent.
Or the horrendous lies people make just to have something as ephemeral as a fake “godly reputation.” Being known as a godly mentor – yet living a double life. Being known as an apologist or a bible scholar – yet lazy when it comes to doing his job. A godly daughter who’s utterly devoted to her mother – but only in pictures. A godly businessman who shares the Bible with his employees – yet doesn’t pay the right taxes. Building a huge house and spiritualizing it by saying “Only God can give you this blessing” – yet being up to your gills in debt.
Alas. When the truth is finally exposed, we are dismayed by how ephemeral a “godly” reputation can be!
So, the moral of the story is – never invest in something flaky, fake, or ephemeral.
Work hard to earn the good reputation you want. Be filled with the Holy Spirit to exhibit the real fruit of the Spirit. Don’t waste your time and energy just projecting an image. A shell.
Be real about your IQ, your talents and abilities, your weaknesses and limitations, your family background, your fears and failures, your homegrown accent, your faulty English (Who cares? People might actually find it charming!). Don’t be a know-it-all who actually knows very little.
Be authentic enough that when you finally manifest your strengths, your innate charm, your valiant attempts at godliness and brilliance – people will easily applaud and say, “Bravo! That is so YOU!”
They’ll probably give you a standing ovation in their hearts.
It never pays to live a lie.
