Air-brushed

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
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Have you ever heard of the term air-brushed? That’s what is done to pictures whether in magazines, or photography studios. You go in, they put tons of make up on you, embellish you quite a bit, then aim and shoot, process, air brush, then print. The picture is then a perfect image, no lines,wrinkles blemishes. That zit you went into the studio with magically disappeared, and you are delivered a perfect picture of yourself.

Editors are the air brush experts of the writing industry. We writers write and it is their job to embellish and make the writers work nearly perfect for the publishers and then it is on to acceptance.

I was reading a King novel and his editor missed an air-brush moment. The characters name was Tad throughout the whole book and in one sentence he was called Ted. You know, an error like that can really make you trip over words.

You expect the errors from small time publishers but from big time publishers that are making millions from an author such as King? I expect perfection! Well, now I know not to because there is nothing perfect in this world.

Did you ever wake up to face the world feeling airbrushed until you smile at someone and they look at you weird, point to your front tooth and say, “Got a little something there.” You then feel awkwardly embarrassed and remove the chunk of yesterdays broccoli that you THOUGHT you had brushed away, (but broccoli is a stubborn veggie.)

Or did you ever wake up with a song in your heart and you just start singing it, not even caring if you’ve got the words right, or if it is in tune, you just want to rejoice in waking up, only to be told, “What is that?” By someone who doesn’t like your singing.

What I’m getting at is that the simplest of moments can ruin the bright and glorious ones. One comment can leave you bruised, one correction can almost shatter an already unstable personality, one incident can change the world you live in.

I’m in an airbrushed moment of my life. I feel like God is up there with a big eraser and saying, “No this isn’t right. How did I mess THIS up so bad?” And I know it is just my own insecurities seeing things that are not there.

God makes no mistakes! Life cannot be airbrushed into perfection. As much as we want this or that different, this is just the way God wants us. And as I set my priorities straight, facebook will fall to a glimmer in my eye, the writing world will dim to a low light in the fog. I will rise above the ashes and move on in the direction God intends for me.

Editors aren't perfect, publishers aren’t all that perfect either, and certainly authors are just human beings with flaws. Whether in words or in pics, we’re not perfect, life isn’t perfect.

I think I’ll climb into my airbrushed magazine and pretend all is right with the world out here.