2-14pm
Every now and again, the whole concept of the masks we wear raises it’s head in my life. It began years ago when I was asked if I wasn’t wearing a mask while I was on air….was I feigning ongoing happiness?
Wow!
At the time, I concluded that although I may not have started the day off happy, as my time on air got going, I ‘became the mask.’ I behaved my way to success. Life has many ups and downs, but for some people, it may come in long, drawn out seasons of downs that seem to have no end. Those who struggle through the cloud of difficulty wear a mask and hide under being FINE.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend about being FINE. We talked about how often we just say we are fine, but meanwhile there’s a whole lot of turmoil going on underneath…
You can try hide behind being FINE to your acquaintances, some of your friends and maybe even family, but you can’t hide being FINE from God. He’s got your back. He really doesn’t want you being Fragile, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional. He wants you to be Fabulous, Invulnerable, Normal and at Ease.
What fascinates me about getting older is how it’s still possible to feel as vulnerable and insecure as I did when I was an inconfident teenager, fearful of unacceptance and wallowing in poor self-esteem & rejection. It’s easy to go back there and embrace all the ridiculous insecurities of donkey years ago! The fragility and pain rises up inside of us and we feel pretty Fragile, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional! There is something that I do to counteract these negative feelings and lies which somehow I revert back to. For a few minutes, I imagine what God thinks of me. How does He see me? Does He see me as pathetic and unable? Has He not equipped me with a deep, inner strength and resolve to find everything I need in Him? I have been bought with a price. He has filled me with His Holy Spirit and infused me with great lashings of love, joy, peace and patience. He has added kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. They go against my human nature, but because I have Him in my life, He miraculously casts a dye through my humanness and paints it with the beauty of His fruitful Spirit. How then, can I criticize me, when I have been worked on by such a loving God. When I lambaste me with negativity, am I not in some way also criticizing God’s handiwork?
And so I’ve learned to cut myself some slack – to give myself a break….to rest in the knowledge that although my life is far from perfect, I can rejoice each and every day, because the God of all joy is in my heart. I’m His masterpiece! He does something physically with my brain and my soul so a sense of contentment can envelop me.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
I’m not sure if anyone would have read all the above, but at least it clarified it for me! 😀
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gratitude Pic: This is a crazy one. I have made a lot of notes in my Breaking Free Work book and my pencil was blunt. I didn’t have a sharpener and kept forgetting to buy one! TODAY I DID! Ta da!
Stay sharp!