I had mentioned a book earlier on called "How To Stop the Pain" . I was reading some before I went to bed last night and every time i read that book, i get something new out of it. There were two things that I got from it last night:
1. Defense Mechanisms: That it be my prayer and challenge not to live from one defense mechanism to another. I struggle with the inevitable: that I will get hurt in life whether it be from people, situations, or myself. I tend to live in this battle: I live in a defense mechanism mode so that I won't get hurt. I am just praying that I would release the addiction to think that I can control what happens in life, cuz i can't! When will I get it!
2. Mask Wearing:
Here is an excerpt of what I read last night:
"it is the fear of judgement that compels us to withhold confession. Sadly, the church has become a place where it is not safe to be honest. As a matter of fact, church, more than any other place, is where we lie about our faults and failures! Church, as a whole, has become a merciless environment that breeds deceit and hypocrisy, rather than being a safe place to be honest and grow. It actually can become a place that encourages us to wear a mask and hide our problems."
Wow, when I read this, I totally agreed, and my prayer is that I do my part to not encourage "mask wearing" for myself or others. I am sure that I have been guilty of wearing the mask and then encouraging others to keep the mask on. It's like we all have theses huge bandaids on and are too afraid that our wound may be too shocking to see. It will never completely heal if you don't deal with it.
I just pray that I wouldn't fall into wearing a mask, because of a fear that people who aren't perfect either may judge. Also, I would never want to be a reason for someone to feel like they can't let the mask down and share their faults and failures.
This really challenged me! Do I fall into wearing a mask, and do I facilitate or encourage an environment for mask wearing?
