Every parent’s worst nightmare is not knowing where their young child is. Alexia once hid away inside a 4 sided clothing rail in a store…she thought it was a fun trick to play until her very frantic mother found her. Somehow it wasn’t as funny after that!
When I was about 3 years old I decided I wanted to be a bride. I found a princess “dress up” dress, an old curtain that I wore on my head as a veil and donned my ” Sunday school and special occasion” sandals. All I needed was a bunch of flowers because no self-respecting bride would walk down the aisle without a pretty bouquet! I knew that the neighbors a few houses down the street had a beautiful bed of orange flowers, so I set off to go and pick some. I never thought of telling my mother who discovered I was missing a few minutes later! She ran out into the street as the kind neighbor was walking back with me- not before taking a photo of me in my bridal get up though! I came across the photo a few days ago whilst going through some old albums.

What do you dress up as? What outfit do you cleverly put on to portray another character that makes you feel less of who you are and more of who you would like to be? We all do it . I may not dress up as a bride anymore, probably because I have had my very own real fairytale BIG FAT GREEK wedding to my handsome prince! I just dress up in other outfits now. The super confident, ” got it all together” mother, the calm serene woman, the super-hero wife….There are many personas that I wear on a daily basis. We live in a “fake it till you make it” society. What would happen if we showed the world our makeup-less face?

The good news is that in Gods sight we are still as naked as the day we arrived blue and screaming into this world. All our crazy notions, delusions of grandeur, put on personalities, brilliant self confidence and fake smiles are transparent to Him who made each single cell in our bodies. The best part of all this is that when He looks at us, He doesn’t gasp in horror or declare us to be too far gone for grace. God loves us in our most awful moments. He sees right through our most convincing performances and He loves us completely all the time and every day!

No doubt you’ve  heard the story of The Emperors New Clothes. This silly fool believed he was dressed in the most beautiful fine garments and that the rest of the world was looking at him with the greatest admiration. The truth was that he was wearing nothing and they were laughing at him.

I wonder how often we are the emperor in real life? Perhaps it’s time to take off the makeup that hides us- the foundation that covers who we really are, the eyeshadow that covers up the loneliness in our eyes and the blusher that masks how pale we feel in comparison to those around us. Remember that they probably stood in front of their mirror this morning taking as long to perfect their image as you did!

O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
 
You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.

You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
 
You saw me before I was born

Psalm 139: 1-4,13-16