Scary Bowl Part II

Ok, I tried.  I tried to let the scary bowl picture (see below) just speak for itself...a little humor for all of us who fight the daily battle against the clutter demon.  But I cannot just walk away from my sister's comment on that post.  It was just too ripe with deeper meaning:

I have read the book...it isn't all that helpful. I knew and agreed with everything in it... you know it too, we just don't do it (or only do it for a day or two). I think the key is this...don't have it so out in the open! Hide your scary bowl!! :)

See what I mean?  Can you blame me?  She was clearly making a joke about our actual piles of household clutter, but I really couldn't pass up the spiritual metaphor there (I know, I know, it is a sickness!)  The part that I put in bold letters seems to me to be a life strategy that many of us employ.  Work with me here....

We all have those parts of ourselves that are not so pretty.  The unflattering, can't-quite-get-it-all-together-for-company parts.  The places of doubt, insecurity, jealousy. and impatience.  The part of our spirits from which we operate when we say ugly things about our neighbors, yell at our kids, or ignore someone who is hurting because we are just too busy.  The part that compares his or herself to others who seem so much more in control of their life and then wonder what we are doing wrong.  Maybe it is the part of us that has big questions for God when everyone else seems so certain or even the part that battles a secret habit or addiction all alone.  All of this, all the emotional clutter that piles up in our lives that we don't know what to do with or we don't want to deal with, make up our big "scary bowl" of stuff that we often hide from others with our smiling faces and "Praise the Lords."

While it should be just the opposite, the church can sometimes be the place where we most often feel the need to hide our "scary bowls."  We tell ourselves that, clearly, if we had more faith and were a better Christian, we could rise above these types of mundane worries and struggles.  Or that it seems to be working for those other folks, so I am certainly not going to let on that it just isn't that easy for me...it just seems so "unchristian" to have these doubts.  Yet, God calls us to carry one another's burdens (Galations 6:2)and to build one another up(1 Thessalonians 5:11.)  If we always hide our "scary bowls" from each other, we are going to find building each other up to be a difficult task to accomplish.  I know I would personally consider it a privilege if you shared your "scary bowl" with me; may I be so bold as to ask the same from you?

  Uh-oh, I feel some song lyrics coming on...this is Casting Crowns' song Stained Glass Masquerade:

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the heart again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be

Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

Again, apologies to my sister for taking her innocent words and running with them in a totally different direction.  Thanks for letting me dump our proverbial "scary bowls" out on the counter.  FYI, I hide the scary bowl pictured below in the laundry room when company comes over.  If the scary bowl is out in plain view when you come over, you know I love you!

By the way, I think I should get credit for great self-restraint in letting the "Book that we all know what it says and we agree with it, but we just don't do it or only for a day or two" part of Karen's comment go unexamined.  Feel free to dig into that one on your own!

Comments

[Karen]

Thanks sister! This will be my last comment!! :)