MASKS
The other day, I had to get out of the house and get some medicine. Like a good girl, I put my mask on and went into the store because I needed some other things too. (My doctor from the animal hospital where I work, has been amazing sending me masks to keep me safe.) When I checked out, I smiled at the employee and thanked her. When I got into the car, I realized that even though I smiled, she could not see it. Nor could I see her smile, as she was also wearing a mask. At the animal hospital where I work, I am a receptionist. A smile is part of my job when people come in and when they leave. That is one of my goals at work; to make everyone smile before they leave the hospital. This has been my fifth week not working because of the virus. I miss seeing clients at the hospital. (Of course, one on one interaction with clients are done differently right now because of the virus.) Wearing a mask, got me to thinking about the masks we wear each and every day, even when we are not in a pandemic.
Have you ever thought that in our school yearbooks, all we see is the face of our classmate? How about when the police are looking for someone? They only show their face on the tv or poster! One of my grandsons, is going to the police academy in the fall. He has been working at a local police station. He fingerprints and helps when a criminal comes in to be put in jail. The mug shot that is taken, just shows the persons face. Some of those mug shots are really scary to me. The looks some of the criminals have on their faces, show who they are on the inside. But yet does it really? The other night on the tv news, they showed a face of someone the police were looking for who had committed murder. By his mug shot, he did not look like a man who could do such a horrible thing. He put on a “mask” to hide behind who he really was.
Our face is the most recognizable part of our bodies. It is the part of our body that is the most public. Many years ago, right after my husband and I got married, we were Christmas shopping with my mother and dad. My mother was looking at a jewelry case in one of the stores. There was a young lady looking in the same case. My husband came up to that lady and put his arm around her. Guess what. When she turned around, it was not me after all. My husband was mortified! Especially since he had done it right in front of my mother!! Of course, that was a brunt of many jokes through the years! But if the lady had turned around and my husband saw her face, he would not have put his arm around her. (Hopefully! Ha!) Now, with all of us wearing masks, it is really hard to tell who is who. We have to look harder at a person’s face to see who they really are.
Our face helps us to let our lights shine. We are to reflect God’s glory. God’s light. In 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Paul is comparing the Old Testament law and the New Testament law. The Old Testament law was “engraved in stone,” which was the Ten Commandments. But in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit, “speaks” to us through the Bible, the new law. We have a much better law and brighter glory. Verse 11 says “For if what is passing away (the Old Law) was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.” (the New Law) Verse 6 of the same chapter, tells us that “…the Spirit gives life,” which is talking about eternal life at the end of our journey here on earth. Verses 12-18, talks about Moses when he came down off the mountain when he got the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:29-35. His face shone so brightly, because he had been in God’s presence, that he had to put a veil on his face so the Israelites could look on his face and listen to him.
Wow! Wouldn’t that be amazing if our faces shown, with the glory of God, in such a way that we had to put a veil on our face because our lights were shining so brightly for the Lord! We need to come out from behind the masks we put on our faces; thinking we are not good enough, not special enough, not confident enough, to tell others about Jesus! We hide behind our masks because we have done something sinful or we are in pain physically or spiritually, and do not feel we are worthy enough to shine for Jesus, even though we are told that God loves us unconditionally. (Romans 8:38-39)
I have mentioned in other blogs, that I love lighthouses. I love what they represent. They, especially in the past, showed by their light, where the shore was-where the rocks were-where a ship’s captain would know to land in safety. The light at the top of the lighthouse, always goes around and around reflecting its light on the special pieces of glass. It is a beacon of safety calling the ships to its brilliance. We need to be a reflection of what Jesus taught while He was on this earth, just like a lighthouse. If we hide behind a “mask,” how are we going to reflect God and His glory? In 2 Corinthians 4:6 we read, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Just as God, in creation, commanded the light to shine out of the darkness; God “turns on the light” in people’s hearts when they study the Bible and realize who Jesus is and what He gave up for us. They come out from behind the mask of darkness, which they have been hiding and living behind. But if we do not come out from behind our masks of insecurity, how can anyone ever come out of the darkness and into the light by our teachings and example.
Of course, when we go out in public right now, we are wearing actual masks for protection. Our first responders, the nurses, doctors, those preparing our food or putting it out on the shelves at the grocery store, the people who take care of our elderly in the nursing homes, the people cleaning the rooms of the people who have the virus, the truck drivers delivering needed gear and food, must wear those protective masks to help protect them from this invisible virus. They are our heroes showing us good examples of what we should be doing-wear our mask when get out of the house and we need to stay at home to protect them. There are times for actual masks, it is true. If I have to have surgery, I sure want the doctors and everyone in that surgery room, to be wearing masks for my safety. These are important, but what I am talking about are the invisible mask we put on and hide behind, which the devil uses to make us feel unsecure in who we are and what we need to do to shine for God.
There will be a day we will not have to wear a mask in public. There will be a day that we will be able to see each other’s smile and hug each other again. We do not know right now when that will be and that is the hard part-the fear of the unknown. There are so many things we are able to learn from this time. There are so many things we can still do to help others. I have seen so many people stepping up to help others, letting their lights shine, in such creative ways. There is a bridal shop in Virginia, who are having a drawing for the first responders who are engaged. They are giving away 75 wedding gowns. There are many restaurants who are giving away free meals to hospital personnel. People going to an older person’s home and singing out on the sidewalk to help cheer them. Cities at a certain time every night are standing out on their balconies or in parking lots singing or clapping for the health care workers. People fostering shelter pets to help the shelters out. So many, many people letting their light shine. They are not hiding behind their masks of their own loneliness and fear. But rather pulling off the mask of their fear-depression-sadness-loneliness and instead, shining in their service to others. We need to get out of our self. Out from behind the mask we have put on to supposedly protect our heart from pain.
How do we peel away this invisible mask?
- Realize that you need to make a change. Realize that you are hiding behind your mask to save yourself from hurt. I know that when I talk to a trusted friend that I feel some of that weight come off my heart. (Proverbs 18:24)
- Make the choice to make a change in your thought process. We are responsible with our choices and what we do with them. God is responsible for the results. The way you think determines the way you feel and the way you feel influences the way you act! Become a new creature. New in thought and action. (Romans 12:2)
- Trust God. That is hard during this time, when people have lost jobs and lost loved ones to this virus. Trust takes our faith another step. It involves us being able to put ourselves at risk. It requires us to depend on God to keep His promises, even when proof is not provided. It is continuing to believe when the evidence points in the opposite direction. (Psalm 18:28-30)
- Don’t dwell on the negative. At the beginning of this epidemic, I was watching and reading everything about the virus. Seeing the refrigerator trucks with dead bodies in them, all lined up in New York. So many people dying in the hospital without their loved one with them and the pain those family members were going thru. It felt like a weight was resting on my chest. But then when I starting to hear all the good things people were starting to do, it helped me realize that this virus has also brought the good in people. Sometimes we tend to forget that when we are surrounded by pain and heartache. Celebrate what you have realized about yourself and the time you have been able to spend with family. (Philippians 4:6-8)
- Start a journal. We may still have our mask on when we start to write, but I have realized that the mask starts coming off bit by bit. Make a list of five things you are thankful for every day. Writing in your journal is between you and God. He will help you sort out your thoughts and feelings. (Psalm 62:8)
- Make a list of things you can do, even during this pandemic, to serve others. Then, do it. After all the Bible tells us that even Jesus did not come to serve but to serve others. (Mark 10:45)
This is a hard time for all of us. Thinking positive is hard. We should not be lamenting what we have lost, but celebrating what we have found, by being confined at home. We should not put our invisible mask up to seemingly protect our pain and heartache, but rather reach out to God, who is our light. If we are hiding behind this mental mask, we need to take steps to chip it away. How can we shine for Jesus with this mask on?
We are assured that we will have hardships here on this earth, but it is how we react to those hardships which shows who we really are on the inside. Barbara Johnson said “There is no oil without squeezing the olives; no wine without pressing the grapes; no fragrance without crushing the flowers and no real joy without sorrow.”
Just as the light from the moon, is a reflection of the sun, the light we give off to others, is a reflection of God’s Son. I want to leave you with some hope that God has given us in scripture. Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.”
One of these days we will be able to take off our physical masks once again when we leave the house. But today, we need to take off our invisible mask that is holding you back from shining for the Lord!
Till next time. Keela
(The picture at the first of this blog, is my daughters four kids. She made a mask for each one of them to wear. She so far, she has been able to keep them protected at home. One day we will be able to see their sweet smiling faces again.)
