You may think that what you are painting your life on a canvas that is nothing less than spectacular. One day, you return to check the curing of your master piece and you discover that something has gone terribly wrong. All of the colours have melted altogether, and none of the image is recognizable. You painstakingly research in your head what could’ve been the cause of this tragedy. Were the materials you used genuine, were you taken for a ride, deceived by the materials you used? After much thought, you come to the conclusion that the canvas you used still must have had impurities left on it that reacted negatively with the paint. The canvas material was not genuinely pure. I’m not an artist, and I don’t even know if this could happen in real life, but just go with me on an illustrative tangent.
Often times in circumstances that are temptingly too hard to face, we react by putting on a mask, or painting a pretty picture for ourselves and others. It’s really a horrible facade. Sometimes years pass before we begin to recognize that our lives, our beliefs, our morals, are being tainted by the chemicals, our soul SIN (as my gramps would put it), that we have attempted to paint over. The layers of paint are beginning to smear and decay. We then look at ourselves and see something that is no longer recognizable. Our attempts to cover over what was too painful to face, was really, a deep calling for help that no one may have been brave enough to stick their neck out for.
It is a pity that society has aided the effort to boycott the value of vulnerability and the strength that comes out of weakness. Even women have been combatted with the same pressures that men face to be "STRONG!" and not ask for help, because asking for help would mean that we can’t do it alone. That must mean that if we can’t do it alone, we are not valuable to the world, and thus not loveable. LIES!! I’m not going to blame this all on society to escape my own responsibility in this matter or even the church’s. The truth is, that we are all a part of society. Ultimately, we are all a society of the children of God. Guys, Gals, it’s up to us to change these lies by opening our arms to each other with God’s love and creating an atmosphere in the world where no one has to hide behind these life destructing masks. It can be as simple as being a listening ear to someone who feels totally invisible to the world, remembering the details that are important to them, making their life apart of your life. Imagine how many ugly masks you can help peel back from their faces by doing something so simple. Be a light in some one’s life where you sense that there is more than meets the eye. Remind them that there is nothing so horrible that they may have done that would separate them from the love of God, their creator (Romans 8:39).Only then, will they be able to begin to discover who they genuinely are after all their years of painting a "pretty" picture have past.
MOST importantly, we must remind ourselves that because we are Christian, it does not mean we are immune to such tactics of facade. Even our SpiRITUALS can be a mask to hide behind our insecurities with ourselves, with others, our faith, and our relationship with God. We can be such fools raising our hands, dancing around, sporting our musical ability, shouting in tongues for all to hear, and preaching to all the trees, trying to top one another’s "Godliness"(Romans 6:12-14). What a bunch of horse pile! In this world of pridefulness and equality of hurt, this world needs REAL, transparent Christians. Admitting vulnerability in our humanity is an open door to letting Christ use us as His most powerful tools.
I leave you with a poem that I recently came upon in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
Yours In Christ,
Natalie M. Steele
"Mighty Woman of God in Training"
Please Hear What I’m Not Saying
Don’t be fooled by me.
Don’t be fooled by the face I wear.
For I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I’m afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.
Pretending is an art that’s second nature to me,
but don’t be fooled.
For God’s sake don’t be fooled.
I give you the impression that I’m secure,
that confidence is my name and coolness is my game,
that the water’s calm and I’m in command,
and that I need no one.
But don’t believe me,
My surface may even seem smooth by my surface
is my mask, ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion and fear and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don’t want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being
exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade, to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance is precisely my salvation.
My only hope, and I know it.
That is, if it’s followed by acceptance,
is it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It’s the only thing that will assure me
of what I can’t assure myself,
that I’m really worth something.
I don’t like to hide.
I don’t like to play superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me,
but you’ve got to help me.
You’ve got to hold out your hand
even when that’s the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the bland stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you’re kind and gentle and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!
With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breath life into me.
I want you to know that.
Who am I, you may wonder.
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet,
and I am every woman you meet.
Author Unknown
Note: All blogs written by Natalie M. Steele are protected.
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