“How are you” has always struck me the wrong way. It is most often answered with “I’m good, how are you?” – but really truly, we are falling apart inside. And on the times that we really are doing good, how will anyone know we mean it!? “How are you?” has become the hap-hazard greeting of 21st century United States, and we say it so often we forget to actually ask someone how they are…and mean it. Heaven forbid someone respond to our thoughtless greeting with how they really are. We would be taken aback, probably irritated (no one has time for that).
The past few weeks I have become more and more aware of the way I present myself to others. I have always called myself a “realistic” person, not pessimistic, but not optimistic. I have also always known how hard it is for me to fake what I’m feeling. It is SO HARD for me to wear a mask and pretend I’m ok, when I’m really not. but I try. Now I’m wondering if I should? I want it to be ok for me to not have it all together sometimes.
I believe there is such a fine line between what we should share with the public world, and what should be kept in our private lives.
I’m not sure where that line is for me, but I know without a doubt that I have been so encouraged by people who have been open with struggles in their lives. Open with pain they are feeling. Open with depression that is holding them back. They have ministered to my life, and they have been ministered to by just crossing the line of “I’m fine, how are you?” that holds so many people back. To see someone share the miscarriage they wanted to keep a secret, the depression they feel is swallowing them, or the pain they felt in the heartbreaking loss of a child; these emotions that carry through. People will suffer with you, and mourn with you. People will pray for you in ways they never could have if you had kept quiet, and they will love and draw you back to seek Jesus’ face in your trials.
I have been convicted about sharing simple struggles/victories also. Like how hard it is to stop, turn around, and love the homeless man sitting on the corner of the street. How hard it is to give up the extra $5 to pay-it-forward. But how rewarding it is when you do, share the rewarding feeling to encourage someone else to take the leap of faith. Share the struggle so they know it’s hard for you too.
There is so much more Jesus can give us if we let Him. Allow Him to bless and encourage you, minister to you, and deliver you, through others. There is so much we don’t have to hide. We don’t have to present our lives as perfect, put-together, and awesome, something to make others jealous of. Present your life as broken as it is, but so redeemed by the love of the Savior.
I remember the night I cried. Bawled my eyes out in front of the whole Bible study while all I was trying to do was share a prayer request, but my heart overflowed. Jesus knew I needed to be broken & open. He knew that I needed the prayers I wasn’t going to ask for. He knew I needed the encouragement that was waiting.
So be brave. Be real. Share your heartbreak, your celebrations, your loss, and your joy. Share it all, and let the love of Jesus overwhelm you.
