Pretend.
1. to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so: to pretend illness;
to pretend that nothing is wrong.
2. to appear falsely, as to deceive;
feign: to pretend to go to sleep.
3. to make believe.
Pretending can be great fun! Like making believe that you're asleep when you're really wide awake. Notice that the old lady is an experienced pretender! The grandchildren find it just a bit harder to pull the whole charade off. And the younger the child, the harder it is to fake it. But sooner or later they get the hang of it. Kind of ...
But in real life, pretending is not all that entertaining. It works against us. Some travel along, acting like all is well when nothing could be farther from the truth. Others deceive, donning a false persona or playing a role, passing themselves off as someone that they're not.
And in the whole process, we end up becoming incredibly inauthentic instead of genuinely real from the inside out. And over time the results are damaging. Slowly but surely, an unsettling amount of emotional unrest creeps in. There's a spiritual numbness. And physical illness isn't far behind. Anxiety and depression slowly weave their way into our beings.
Along the way, many of us had to pretend that all was well. It was a tool for survival. For coping. But there comes a time when we begin to yearn for something more. We start to outgrow the mask we donned along the way. Like a pair of pants that just doesn't fit any more, living with all the "smoke and mirrors" grows uncomfortable and unsettling.
We long to be free from the constraints. A great yearning for freedom from these chains rises up within our souls. Our deepest desire is not to hide anymore. It morphs into a healthy thirst for spiritual and emotional healing {John 4:14}. To be transformed into someone genuine and authentic. To be a person of integrity, from the inside out.
We long to feel safe and whole, accepted and treasured.
I love that Jesus invites us to be who we are with Him. To approach Him with not a mask in sight. He beckons us to come because He sees that we are "weary and burdened" with all our phoniness, our inauthenticity, our drama, our stuff, our pain, our sin. He knows that our deepest longing is to find rest for our souls {Matthew 11:28-29}.
And that can only be found in a genuine relationship with Him.
Perhaps the most important question He asks, then and now, is "Do you want to get well?" {John 5:6}.
Are you ready to take off the mask you've been wearing? Maybe it's time to come to Him with all that is true about you ... and find the healing your soul's been craving.
No more pretending ~
Linda
