Take off the Mask

I purchased this for an event I'm planning. It's called "the thinker," but I the main reason I bought it was because it reminded me of the masks we all wear. We keep our mask on to hide our true self from others. Our mask protects us from being hurt. If we become transparent and vulnerable and reveal our true self then we open ourselves to rejection.

There are times when we let down our masks and immediately may sense judgement or criticism. That may be an actual fact or it's a perception we have. We may feel like people think we are too transparent, too vulnerable, too real, too _____________________ (fill in the blank). So we put the mask back on because it's safer and less hurtful than rejection.

When our mask is on than no one will know how deep our wounds are or how much their words, or often, their silence cuts to the quick.

But I know I don't like my mask because when I wear it I feel fake and like I don't belong anywhere. I'm not experiencing real community.

Yet, God calls us into relationship and if we are to have true community with both Him and with one another we need to take off those masks and let ourselves be vulnerable. Vulnerability is scary, but oh so necessary to our spiritual growth.

Unless we stand vulnerable before God and others we will never change, grow and our relationships will always be superficial. There are many times in church when I feel isolated and alone, but I want to keep my mask off. Because I believe there are others out there who long for community as well. They want to feel like they belong to a community. As long as we all keep our masks on, then true connections will never happen. We will all just be shiny, fake people with superficial relationships.

I'm tired of that. I want to go deeper in my relationship with the Lord and I want to go deeper in my relationships with my church family.

Won't you join me and take off that mask today?