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| Drop your mask - be yourself! |
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So many of us wear masks. Layers and layers of masks. And in that process we forget who we really are. I used to be that way...years ago.
I was Mrs. Girl Scout doing every job possible and I didn't even have a girl. I was a member of the council's board of directors. A district chairman - responsible for all the troops & leaders in my city. A day camp director. I was a volunteer at church ... helping in the office, head of an annual fundraiser... I was a wife... I was a mother... but who was Gretchen? I had no clue.
It took a personal experience with Jesus on a Walk to Emmaus weekend and believe or not the above cartoon to bring reality to me. I could be - me ... and still do those other things. But first I had to be the child that God meant me to be. And then I had to learn to say - no. God didn't want me to do everything. Others had to step in too.
When your Spiritual Gifts are Leadership and Administration, it is hard to say no. But my highest Gift has always been Faith. And once I put my faith in the Lord first, every thing else fell into place.
How many masks do you carry around? When the Lord asks, "Who are you?" Do you throw up a mask as an answer? Or do you confess to being a child of God, wholly made by Him?
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| Great Blog Gretchen! Wonderful! You betcha!, we all wear them and sometimes it takes something like a simple cartoon to open our eyes to it. If we could all just BE Who God created us to be! WOW...what a picture that would look like.....Can you see it? Much love to you! |
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| Gretchen,this was a great blog.I have been thinking about masks lately from a little bit different angle.I have been thinking of the way that we wear masks at church and with church friends.It leaves a hypocritical taste in non belivers mouths and keeps us from living out a victorious life in CHrist and from encouraging other Christians.Didn't your life become better for Christ and for those closest to you when you learned to say No?Great blog Gretchen,keep'em coming:) |
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Mask are words. We are judged by our words. Sometimes with certain people, we just have too say it their way to get along. Most people are not mature enough to accept the diversified body as it is. They need to see their own face when they look out their eyes. The Devil ain't stupid either. He knows he must wear a religious mask when abiding with believers. If he took off his mask, we would cast him away. So please consider the cost before taking off those mask. The churchy folk stand ready to kill anything that does not bow knee to their golden calf....opps I really meant to say system of beliefs (doctrine). Birds of a feather flock together for a reason. But God has a surprise for them when they enter into his kingdom.
"hey...how is it possible for hummm you to be here ???"
Kw. |
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ahhhh... I love a discussion.
Words - camouflage, hurt, sting. They can drive people away or bring them in to a hug.
Masks conceal or disguise emotions. Like a wall not allowing people to get too close. Masks don't need words. Some are visibly felt, some are not. Even voice can change depending on the mask the person is wearing at any given time. It took my husband a long time to realize how his voice changed from one mask to another. Authoritarian for seminars. Tough military for teaching. Soft with children. One day he said, 'why can't I be the same for all?' 'Why do I need a mask for this group and not this group?' Today he couldn't muster a mask if he had too, because his loving, caring personality has broken, smashed those he used to wear. |
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Many people wear masks depending on the circumstances. Example. We have our church face on when we're in front of Christian folk, then we swap it for another one when we're not. And although God knows us individually, there's an underlying thing saying, will the real you please stand up!
I've known people in my area for many years, but there's only two that I know of in those many people that's shown the real you - meaning the real "me." The rest wear a mask, and sadly I can see straight through it. They say one thing behind church walls, but say another behind home walls. Great blog Gretchen. Let's hope we start wearing the real "you" mask when meeting up with people - because if not, like myself, they'll see straight through it. |
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| You are right on Stevie. These people have no clue we can see straight through their masks. And they don't seem to understand that they would be happier just being their true selves. |
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| In answer to your response Gretchen. One day ALL masks will be taken away when we meet God. Its only then that people will realise that they lived their life as a phony. They wore one face behind church walls - but another one behind closed doors. God is more interest in what we do behind closed doors than what we're like behind church walls, and everything will be exposed once the mask is taken away. |
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MT4God |
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June 02, 2008 at 8:08am |
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| This is good, Gem. Thanks for posting this. God made us to be what He wants us to be. If we layer that with a mask, then we are not being the person God made us to be. Each one of us is unique and made special by God. Let God shine through His work, and not cover it up with a mask. |
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beppe |
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June 02, 2008 at 3:16pm |
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Touche'...you've hit upon my life's philosophy!
Take it from one who's been on the "slightly left of normal" side most of my life:
"I am what I am and that's all what I am!" -Popeye
My Beppe taught me to say (a lot)
"God made me, and God don't make mistakes!"
Onward and upward, square pegs in a round-hole world.....God created pegs AND holes! -=) |
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Maybe we have to wear mask. Maybe we know something we can't admit to each other.
maybe our belief system's kill, steal and destroy everything that is not like me myself and I.
:)
Kw. |
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Everytime I read about "wearing a mask", I think of the following poem:
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) We Wear the Mask WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask! |
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| Ok, I'm late to the game, but wanted to say powerful post Gretchen! Thx!! |
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