Removing the Mask

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men." Matthew 6:5

I heard the cutest story the other day. There was this little boy talking with his busy mother one morning. He watched her carefully, making an observation. "Mom, you sure do have a lot of white hairs in your head. How come?", he asked. "Well", she said, "Everytime you're bad I get a new one. So, I guess you could say you put them there." "Oh", the child replied. Then he sat there for a minute, very deep in thought. Then, he looked at his mother and said, "You know, Mom, you must have been very, very bad when you were a little girl cause Grandma's hair is all white!!"

From the mouths of babes, huh? Yet there's a lot to be gleaned from that. Children are honest-- sometimes brutally so! They'll point out stuff in your teeth in a room full of people or tell embarassing stories on you. If you want to know the truth about something, all you have to do is ask a child! While they haven't learned the social graces, we usuallly find them refreshing.

I think a neat lesson we can learn from children is how to be ourselves. Rather than trying to be what we think others want or expect us to be we can just rest in being the people God so carefully knit together. He took great care in fashioning us. We're precious to Him. Our personalities are unique to His design.

One thing that plays out in my mind as a good example of how we put on a front for others from personal experience is the Sunday morning routine in my household. On Saturday night, clothes are picked out and ready to go. However, it never fails that on Sunday morning my children will come downstairs wearing something entirely different. "Honey, you cannot wear that. Those are Easter shoes and this is October. It doesn't match", I say. "But Mom, I like the shoes. They look better with this outfit," my daughter says. "About that outfit... That's not the one we picked out last night. You can't wear that pink plaid summer skirt with that brown fuzzy sweater. Honey, let's go up and see what we can find even though I haven't finished getting ready and we're already late," I moan. This type of thing goes on until we walk out the door at which point I ask if everyone remembered to brush teeth. What response do you think I get to that when we're already ten minutes late? Then, we pile into the car and we start to hear, "Could you tell him to give me back my pencil? She's touching me. Tell her to stop." Then my husband chimes in, "Let's listen to some praise music and actually PREPARE our hearts for worship, why don't we?" We arrive and are scrambling out of the car to make it into the church on time. We walk through the doors and....... BLING! We put on the award winning smiles. Someone walks up to us and asks how we are and we respond with an automated response, "Fine". Sometimes, I'd love to ask someone that question and have them respond, "I feel like I've completely lost my mind but by God's grace I'm here! Just don't look at my wrinkled clothes, okay?"

Maybe we should trust God a little more and let down our guard a little. Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about what others would think if they knew the real us. We are who we are. To be honest, I feel much more at ease around people who aren't afraid to be themselves. I don't feel like I have to walk on eggshells. So trust God with who you are. Focus on pleasing Him. If you're doing that, the rest fades into the background. Like Christian comedian Ken Davis says, "Lighten up and live!"

Father, thank You for knitting me together according to Your grand design. There is no other like me. You have a purpose for me which is unique to that of everyone else. May I rest in that. I pray the same over my sisters in Christ. So often, women worry over what others will think or say. Lord, redirect our focus to pleasing You. It's all that matters. Also, Father, I praise You for the blessings You give us. Thank You for the joy You bring. I praise You and thank You in the name of Your Son, Amen.