“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
We’ve all heard this phrase before. It means that what you project on the outside doesn’t define who you are on the inside. Because the cover is the smallest part of who you are.
I don’t believe in this phrase.
When I browse for new books I look only at the cover. I’m looking to see how much the writer went through to make the outside look compelling. If there was no effort to the outside why would it be any different on the inside?
Some of you might think that I am making a mistake in saying this.
And I can’t help but to ask, “Why does your cover look so crappy?”
Now we all have that excuse about inner beauty. How if you judge someone then you need to look at the plank in your own eye. And I would say that you’re right. I’ll admit that I have a plank the size of a redwood in my eye when I judge others. We all do.
But we can’t continue to showcase a false representation of ourselves.
Let me put this into a real story for you. When I moved to Georgia I didn’t pack any hoodies or sweaters. Because I thought that it would always be too hot to wear any type of thick clothing. In my defense, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest my whole life. How could I know that it actually gets cold in southern states?
By my second week I needed to buy something a little warmer. Until I would get paid I asked my Kentuckian roommate to borrow one of his. And he gave me his Campbellsville University hoodie. I wore it all the time because it was so comfortable. I didn’t even buy a new sweater.
Apparently people from the South never move outside of the South. They just move to another state in the South. So almost every time I was out with my Campbellsville University hoodie on people would stop me. With their rich southern accents they would get all excited saying they went to Campbellsville. They told me which campus they went to and asked me about how much I love Campbellsville.
I would then tell them that I actually never went to Campbellsville. I was just wearing another mans sweater because I was too cold.
The excitement in their eyes went away and their lips dropped into a slight frown. Then they proceeded to awkwardly walk away while avoiding my eye contact.
My book cover was a lie.
Even though I found comfort in this hoodie I was telling everyone that I went to Campbellsville University. In reality I was a college dropout who is now in a program learning how to be a missionary.
It works the same way if you are always laughing but you’re depressed inside. Or if you always volunteer for soup kitchen but you’re actually avoiding time with your husband. Maybe you put all of your efforts into expanding your intelligence but in reality you can’t solve your own problems.
There’s nothing wrong with hiding our faults until we deal with them ourselves. But we need to be wary on how much art we’re covering over our wrinkled books.
Because then you might miss an opportunity of a lifetime; when your dreams pass by because you didn’t know you wanted them.