The real you

 *This post is actually one I wrote before, but it is fitting for this blog so I am sharing again and every word is still true!!

Have you ever heard a song and the words just stick with you over and over again, either to the point of annoying or convicting?

The other day I put on some music and one of the songs that came on was "Stained Glass Masquerade" by Casting Crowns and I have not been able to forget the words because they really hit me. The words to the chorus are:
                   "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"

Wow. I am speechless with these words.

"Are we happy plastic people," I seriously do not even know what to say about these words, they just convict me so much. Do we gather as Christians and fellow believers and pretend that we are not hurting, that our lives are perfect because we believe in God? No one has a perfect, flawless life and we need to be real with each other. This does not mean we have to wear our heart on our sleeve, but not pretend our lives are flawless either.

There are so many times when people, even Christians, are afraid to speak about troubles they are having in life or ask for prayer from others because we do not want to seem weak. Where does it tell us to not confide in others or to not help build each other up? Too many times people keep a smile on their face and say everything is going well when it really isn't. This just turns people away, there is a verse in the song that says:
                "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 part again, so everyone will see me the way that I see them"

Do we really want people coming into our lives, into our churches feeling like this is not a real place and no one has "real" feelings? This song makes me realize how much we do need to change and if we want to grow the church, we have to change how we approach people and the way we are being portrayed to anyone who looks in from the outside.

Ben and I have been planting an Organic Church for the past few months. This song really makes me think about our church and how we are approaching it. Do we seem fake or that we have masks on? I hope that we don't and that we are being real with anyone we come in contact with, but it does make me put myself in the position of someone looking in on us and how it can be portrayed.

The words to this song are still rolling around my head and I hope more people can see how being real with someone can be more effective than pretending like a life with God is all rainbows and butterflies. There are days when life seems just amazing, but there are also days where everything goes wrong and you wonder if there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Take a few moments and listen to the song, even if you have heard it before, close your eyes and focus on the words.