We hide. We cover things up. Not just once, more than once. We try to cover up things multiple times from an all seeing, all loving, all knowing God.
We have secrets. Those parts of our lives we feel we need to bare… alone. Those things we would not dare let other people in on. Afterall, if we did, our “dirt” and their dirt together might be too much for them. Likely it is.
But how deep is it? How many covers have we insisted upon to avoid our deepest, darkest secrets being revealed. To avoid revealing just how angry we actually are that nobody listened to us as children. To avoid revealing just how greedy we are due to having nothing shared with us when we were growing up. To reveal just how sick we are, maybe because someone treated us sick in our past.
Some things we can safely say were not our fault. The reasons why we have hatred, lying, bitterness way down in there… it is not our fault. The reasons we lash out at others, even our loved ones in much of the same way… we could possibly explain away. But one thing we cannot displace responsibility for is… is the cover up. That is our own.
Master of Disguise
Can we say that we are? How artful have we become in letting others know that everything is alright? How crafty have we gotten in keeping hidden secrets hidden. This skill… the skill we have developed in ‘keeping up appearances’ is all our own. We are the ones that have to accept the “what”, the “when”, and the “why” we did or are doing it. How many cover ups have we allowed to persist, and along with it, what has seeped into the consciousness of our coping mechanisms in order to keep up that “everything is alright” smile.
The Last Cover
“This all sounds great, but none this applies to me,” we could say. Well, it definitely cannot apply to those of us who have nothing to hide, right? Yet the very purpose of the cover up is to show that we have nothing to hide. Oh, what a deceptive web we tangle ourselves in!
This is the ultimate cover. It’s called the “does not apply” cover. It is a great starting place. Some of us have so many covers that to try to rip them all off at once will likely kill us or some innocent bystander close to us. But to start here, by asking the question: “in what area of my life does this apply?” Or “what’s my last cover up?” Now that could be the beginning of freedom.
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Sharing is freedom. Share this and open discussion with someone you know may need to lose the covers.