My amazingly talented husband, Gregory, sang a new Amy Grant song yesterday at church called "Better Than a Hallelujah". He thought he messed up and massacred the song, but I didn't think so at all! I know lots of folks (not just me!) were blessed by it, and didn't notice any missed notes or flubbed lines that seemed glaring to him. The song is beautiful and has beautiful lyrics and has been going through my head since he sang it yesterday. The whole message of the song (or at least my take on it) is about how God sees and hears the cries of our heart and how they're beautiful to Him. My favorite line from the song is "Beautiful, the mess we are" - that blows me away! That God sees me and knows me intimately - knows how messed up I am! - and yet finds me beautiful.
How often am I honest with God and with other people? I mean, really? You know how sometimes when people ask how we are, instead of being transparent and telling them, "I'm having a horrid day and am ready to strangle my spouse and/or my coworkers!", we say "I'm blessed and highly favored!" or we just say "I'm fine! How're you?" Do we try to do that with God, too? It's kind of an icky question because I believe in giving the sacrifice of praise - praising God in the midst of everything that's going on, even when it sucks. Even when praising Him is the last thing you want to do! When the bottom's fallen out and you're sinking, going under for seemingly the last time. Those times when I press in and praise Him regardless are the times when He wrecks me and holds me the closest and let's me hear His heartbeat all the more clearly. And that's all good! But I guess what I was musing about today was how sometimes we're afraid to be real with each other. How we put on these masks and show our shiny happy side. How we're ashamed or afraid to let anyone know that we're hurting. That we're human.
But God knows all. He hears the honest cries and moans and groans of our heart and they are sweet in His ears. And they're sweet in the ears of our fellow laborers, too. Our brothers and sisters who are toiling beside us as we try to walk out our faith are going through their own struggles and trials, but they're not too busy to lend a helping hand. Or at least they shouldn't be. And often when we're brutally honest with someone, it forges a stronger bond. Those shared revelations can really cement a relationship because when you're real with them, it invites them to let their own mask drop and be real with you, too.
I have several friends that I can be totally real with. They've seen me at my worst and yet are still speaking to me. They've seen me bawling and crying over minor things that I should've handled with ease. They've heard me whine and complain when honestly I had nothing to whine or complain about. And they love me, even so! Would they still love me if I hadn't been so honest with them? Probably, but the friendship is deeper and richer in my opinion because of it. Because usually, if we're real with someone, it lets them know that they can be real right back. It lets them know that we trust them enough to share the deep places of our soul. Obviously, though, you should use a little discernment and not just open up and lay your soul bare for just anyone. I"m not saying to be honest and transparent with the stranger in line at Food Lion, necessarily. But you have to be the judge of that, I suppose!
It seems to me that wearing a mask all the time physically would get dreadfully tiring, and would make your head kind of stuffy (especially the heavy kind with lots of feathers). Plus it would affect your peripheral vision, make it hard to see clearly. I'm sure the same things hold true for emotional/spiritual masks as well. I think it's only when we take the mask off and let others see our real face - warts and all - that we can truly breathe freely and see the world around us.
So, have you heard the song? How did it speak to you?
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