I must say that currently, my life has been pretty busy as of late. Working a full-time job, exercising, starting a new ministry and getting ready for online courses that are coming up, all while still being a wife and mother can be a bit overwhelming at times. I have had my share of long days and sleepless nights. So, I look forward to "me" time as that doesn't come around for me that often.
"Me" time is just that...time for me - away from corporate America, away from the hubby, the family and the day-to-day living that I am accustomed to. It's a time for me to unwind, decompress.....exhale. One of the things that I rarely get to do these days is watch TV, so my "me" time consists of serious television watching. Now you may not think that is a big deal but to be able to find the time to sit down, get the remote, turn on the TV and watch a good movie in its entirety without any interruptions - girl, that is major for me.
In addition to certain movies, I was a fan of reality television, particurlarly The Real Housewives franchise. I have to admit that I did get obsessed with watching the glitz and the glamour, the fights, the entertainment and to see how these so-called upper class women really lived. At first glance, the one thing I noticed about these housewives were their picture perfect hair, flawless skin, great makeup and what most women would consider the perfect body type and size. But in this one particular episode, one of the housewives was settling in for the evening and was washing the make up off of her face. I was shocked. She looked nothing like she looked just ten minutes earlier. If I did not already know who she was just by watching the show so much, I would not have recognized her. She appeared one way in front of everyone, but behind closed doors, behind the mask, she was a different person....and the life they were living was not all it was cracked up to be. Isn't it funny how reality TV isn't really there reality?
Do other people see the real you or are you pretending to be something you are not? I think we as women become so obsessed with the way that we look, that it has gone beyond just mere makeup. There is plastic surgery, Botox, fake hair and eyelashes. And maybe that's OK if you want to have a different look but sometimes hiding the scars, blemishes, the age spots and the gray hair is a sign that there is possibly more going on inside of us than what we care to realize. Sometimes when we look in the mirror, there is someting that we are not happy with so we put the makeup, or the mask on. The need to feel and look perfect has become more important than just being our own natural God given self. Again, in my opinion there is nothing wrong with wanting a new look and there is nothing wrong with using makeup or changing our hair from time to time but all the cover up and changing on the outside does not deal with the real issues going on.
Sometimes our cover ups are deep inside of us - they are not external and for some reasson we don't want anyone to know our deepest thoughts - so we hide it - we cover it up. We put on the mask....
No one knows what he did.
No one knows I went there.
No one knows I still feel this way.
No one knows that I messed up really bad.
By putting this makeup on, this mask, I appear one way to everyone, but inside I am dying.
You may be able to fool some people, but you cannot fool God. We can no longer keep our dirty little secret from Him. The funny thing is, He already knows the issue. He is just waiting for us to give it to Him so He can carry it for us. We can't know our worth or walk in newness if we keep carrying old stuff.
Two songs come to mind as I think about this. The first one is "Let It Go" from the "Frozen" movie soundtrack. Part of the song says, "Let it go, let it go, can't hold it back anymore. Let it go, let it go, turn away and slam the door. I don't care what they're going to say. Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway." This speaks to courage. The courage to face whatever it is you are trying to hide and you have the strength inside of you to handle all of it.
The second song is from Alessia Cara titled, "Scars to your Beautiful". Part of the lyrics say, "And you don't have to change a thing. The world could change its heart. No scars to your beautiful. We're stars and we're beatiful."
And God sees you as beautiful, just the way you are. Now that's reality.
Rise Above & Move Forward,
Y.
Comentários