“Transparency is removing the mask and revealing who you really are; it is getting beyond the surface to what is really going on in your heart.”

As she sat alone in the darkness bound by the fears within, the images in her head grew to the point that escape felt impossible and hope felt unreachable.  Deep within her gut she knew there was more, in her gut she knew there was hope but her head painted a very different picture.   This tug of war continued for days on end, for months, and years.  The war within so brutal and so isolating.  She longed for release from its grip that it held, for freedom.  She longed to breath without struggle, she longed to be seen for who she really was.   Within there was torment, however the surface looked much different.  In her struggle she learned to create, to form, to paint.  She became an artist of the mask.  She then became an artist of several masks.  Each one perfectly crafted to fit the moment, the time, the place it was needed.  As time passed and the torment within remained, her hope was in creating her masks, in covering who she was, the pain she felt, to be who she thought she needed to be.  The cover of the mask temporarily easing the pain and allowing her to outwardly appear acceptable, yet inwardly the war continued its conflict and destruction.

Have you been there?  I’m sure at some time or another we have all put on the mask to cover what is really going on within.  Maybe you’re a professional mask maker or maybe it’s just a hobby you pick up now and again.   To live within a mask is to be covered, whether for protection or for fear, it prevents us from being all that we truly are and all that we are meant to be.  In Ephesians 2:10 God says ” For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  To be His workmanship means that He created us, formed us and crafted us just as we are.  He did this with a purpose and a plan, there was no mistake.  He didn’t create us so then we could create a mask to cover who he intended us to be.  In learning to accept that, and truly believe that, we then can remove the mask that we so carefully crafted and be who He has created us to be.  Our freedom is in Him, not in our works.

For years I have been a professional mask maker, covering my pain to appear acceptable to those around me or better yet, acceptable to what I felt was needed to be acceptable to me.  The masks don’t last though and the process and time to make them only adds to the pain and isolation within.  Just as pottery will crack from the stresses in the clay, so will our masks begin to crack as the stress within becomes too much.   In our weakness it is not more effort we need to put in to creating something that is not, but rather in our weakness we need to draw near to Christ and allow him to help us, to guide us, to heal us.  Isaiah 40:29 says “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”  The same God who created us, who formed us, who knows us will give us the strength we need.  Instead of  crafting and working so hard to independently create the perfect mask to cover, lets instead reach out to our maker who knows all the intricacies of us and allow him to heal and to give us hope and peace within.

In full transparency may we remove the masks that keep us hidden, the masks that bind us to who we think we should be rather than who we were created to be in Christ. And in doing so, the story of our lives, though still faced with challenges and difficulties, will be be written with hope and fulfillment knowing that we are who we were created to be.

As she sat alone in the darkness she was no longer bound by the fears within, the images in her head no longer grew to the point that escape felt impossible and hope felt unreachable.  Deep within her gut she knew who her hope was in and she felt a growing peace.  Her head no longer painted pictures of defeat and discouragement but rather of love and of the goodness of God.  The tug of war battle was but a desolate field being prepared for rebirth and new growth and new things to come for days on end, for months, and years.  No longer isolated she felt the freedom she once longed for as she took a deep breath without struggle, finally living her life unmasked.   As years passed and in her times of difficulty she no longer created, formed, or painted masks, but rather she embraced them and lifted them to her creator knowing that in His perfect time He would make all things new.  Her new artistry talent was one of words and of song – praises to the one who was, who is and forever will be.   Each praise and song humbly created in her time of need and spoken with freedom as she allowed the Lord to turn her weakness into strength.  As more time passed she grew stronger and rose in faith and in the steadfast love of the Lord.  Her inner beauty now matched the outer beauty and the land she stood on no longer a war zone but rather a field of beauty so lush and green with a bountiful supply.