Do you wear a mask?
March 29th
BETA
Chapter 1 – The Good News. Have you ever thought about who you really are and why you were born? Are you just a physical being who makes a living, hoping for a little pleasure in life, then dies? Are you the person you pretend to be? If others got to know the real you, would they like you? Perhaps the following expresses how you feel:
Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks – masks that I am afraid to take off, and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that is second nature to me, but don’t be fooled. For my sake, don’t be fooled. I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled within me as well as without, that confidence is my name and coolness my game: that the water is calm and I am in command, ant that I need no one. But don’t believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask, my ever-varying and ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no compliance. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, in aloneness. I hide that, I don’t want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind – nonchalant, sophisticated façade – to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only salvation, and I know it. That is, it’s followed by acceptance if it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison wall, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It’s the only thing that will assure me of what I can’t assure myself – that I am really something…
“Who am I?” You may wonder. I am someone you know very well. I am every man you meet. I am every woman you meet. I am every child you meet. I am right in front of you. Please – love me!”
CELEBRATE RECOVERY
Principle 1 - Realize I’m not God. ; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it
to bring this good news to others, both by my example and by my words.
BETA
Chapter 1 – The Good News. Have you ever thought about who you really are and why you were born? Are you just a physical being who makes a living, hoping for a little pleasure in life, then dies? Are you the person you pretend to be? If others got to know the real you, would they like you? Perhaps the following expresses how you feel:
Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks – masks that I am afraid to take off, and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that is second nature to me, but don’t be fooled. For my sake, don’t be fooled. I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled within me as well as without, that confidence is my name and coolness my game: that the water is calm and I am in command, ant that I need no one. But don’t believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask, my ever-varying and ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no compliance. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, in aloneness. I hide that, I don’t want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind – nonchalant, sophisticated façade – to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only salvation, and I know it. That is, it’s followed by acceptance if it’s followed by love.
It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison wall, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It’s the only thing that will assure me of what I can’t assure myself – that I am really something…
“Who am I?” You may wonder. I am someone you know very well. I am every man you meet. I am every woman you meet. I am every child you meet. I am right in front of you. Please – love me!”
CELEBRATE RECOVERY
Principle 1 - Realize I’m not God. ; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it
to bring this good news to others, both by my example and by my words.
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