I’m sure if you would have known you were going to see this frightening picture to start your week…you may not have gotten out of bed. Yep, this is me with my red-light therapy mask on. If you aren’t familiar with the benefits of red light therapy…they are finding that it:
✓ Stimulates collagen production
✓ Reduces appearance of fine lines & wrinkles
✓ Improves elasticity & firmness
I figure at my age, it can’t hurt to give it a try
Of course, a person using one of these has to get over the fact that they look absolutely ridiculous during the “treatment”. I mean…I look ridiculous enough without the mask…so who knows…maybe the mask is an improvement!
At least it is obvious that I have a mask on. But, it does make me wonder how many times I wear a mask that isn’t quite so obvious. Those times when I make sure I have the appearance that everything in my life is going just fine…but it really isn’t. Those times when I convey that I have my act together, following the path that Christ wants me to follow, but if you looked under the “mask”…you would realize that I’m dragging my feet and not listening to His directions. And those times when I do my best to make people think my marriage and family are perfect, only posting those perfectly staged photos of everyone smiling and getting along…even though we all know no family is flawless.
Of course, no one wants to know everything about my life and there are always things that probably would be better left unknown. But problems arise when I…and maybe even you…make our life appear to be something that it isn’t. We neglect to share our struggles because we fear others will think we are weak. We neglect to share our inadequacies…because, heaven forbid, others would realize we are human. And we never share about those times when we have sinned and greatly disappointed our Savior…because, well, again…we want others to think we are perfect.
Spoiler alert…we are all human and we all struggle and unfortunately, we all sin. That doesn’t make it right…but neglecting to face these realities can sometimes turn others away…especially those who need to know our Savior. If they don’t ever see our imperfections…they may think that they have to “fix” themselves first before they make the life-changing decision to follow Christ. And that simply is not true. Life with Jesus is a journey…where we have successes and yes, we have failures. It’s a process where He walks with us every step of the way and accepts us right where we are…but has much higher hopes for us in the days to come.
It is only through Christ’s power and strength that we can face those things in our life which need changed. Only He can shave off those rough edges which will hopefully make us look more and more like Him. Remember, you and I were created in HIS image, so we really have no reason to wear a mask. Letting others see that He still loves us, even with our faults and failures, is an opportunity to share with them a glimpse of our Savior’s love for them too.
So, let’s work this week on being mask-free. That is, of course, unless you’re like me and have fine lines and wrinkles that need to go away
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