The Update

by Kirsten Stillman (Grade 12)
Masquerade/Stop and stare/At the sea of smiles around you/Masquerade/Seething shadows/Breathing lies/Masquerade/You can fool any friend who ever knew you/Masquerade/Paper faces on parade/Masquerade/Hide your face so the world will never find you
The world we live in today is very different than the way our grandparents remember it. Many things have changed since then; music, technology, television, even clothing styles have changed. But for all that has changed, some things have not changed, the way we want to be seen for example. Remember the Brady Bunch? The perfection of that family has mutated over the years to the more modern Stepford Wives movie. The two similar messages of those are that, though things have changed, one thing has not. Perfection. We want to be seen with smiles on our faces and have the illusion that our lives are in perfect order. We want to be perceived as perfect.
Perfection. It is a mask that many of us wear every day. We wear it in the fear of showing our true selves. It is only when we are truly alone that we let the hated and revered mask of perfection slide off our faces. Why do we wear this mask? The mask that is loathed and loved all at the same time; we wear it to hide what the world has brain-washed us into thinking is weakness… We fear that our own struggles and rough times will be laid out as if on display, with the world to judge us. We fear that our imperfection somehow invalidates us, that we are not useful or worth anything unless we are perfect. We believe the lie that we cannot be used for wonderful and glorious purposes unless we are perfect.
What would happen if we let go of our masks? What if we threw them aside and said “here I am world! Hit me with your best shot!” What would happen? “The world might laugh at me,” you may reply. But is that really what you are afraid of? Are you so afraid of words? Or of what others think of you?
What if you put the mask aside and closed your ears and hearts to the world? Do it, just close your eyes, right now. What do you feel? Not what do you hear, or what do you think, stop thinking. Just sit still and listen to your heart. Do you feel a tugging? It may be small, or it may be big. It may be the same tugging sensation that you experience when you feel you need to speak up and say something to correct a serious wrong. It may be the tugging sensation that makes you stick up for a friend, or a classmate.
What do you feel? Concentrate on it. Does it feel as if warm, strong arms are wrapping around you in a comforting hug? Do you hear the whisper in your soul? You are loved. You are loved. Do you hear it? Do you feel it?
Only the One can hold you like that. And if you tear the mask off and scream “I’m here! I’m ready!!” He is there to help you along.
So here is the truth: we are not perfect.
But if we trust Him, we don’t need perfection.
We don’t need the world.
We don’t need the mask.
We need Him.
With His help, even a worm can do big things. (Jonah 4:6-7) Even a shepherd boy can do what an army does not dare to do (1 Samuel 17:11-58). God does not look at our outward appearance. He does not look at our clothes or our lives. He looks at our hearts.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7)
He doesn’t care that we aren’t perfect, He knows that. But that is exactly what He uses: our imperfections. He uses us. Even though we are less than perfect, He uses that to do great things.
Didn’t the shepherd boy David slay the giant Goliath? Didn’t Esther save her people from certain destruction? Didn’t Noah save the world as we know it in his ark?
Great things can come from the imperfect…
…but only if we are ready to let go of the mask.
[Click here to read Part Two]