What We Hide Behind

How are you doing today? “Good, how are you?” Hey, is there something I can help you with, so you can get out of here quicker? “No, but thank you”. She seems to always be so happy and cheerful. He is always so helpful. It’s fine, everything is fine.

There are so many statements that can be said that we use to hide what we are truly going through. Sometimes it feels easier to to do this, so that explanations don’t have to be said, but what it really does is alienate us from friends and family that could be a supportive cornerstone in our lives.

To say that we need help, calls us to step out from behind the shields that we have put up. It calls us to be humble. When we have tunnel vision on our problems we put them on a platform that makes them bigger than life. This is what happened recently with me. I made the problems that I was facing become bigger than the support I could have gotten.

Recently as I was going through a hard time and I had decided that I would keep it to myself. In my wisdom I thought I was doing the right thing since I didn’t want to put the hardships on anyone else. I felt I could be my own savior and that I could endure the issues on my own. I was in the state of mind that no one else could or would want to help me get through what I had going, but what I realized quickly (but not quickly enough) was that I needed to be humble and reach out.

We were created to be live in a community. We were made to support each other. Christ calls us to serve, to be humble, to help carry each other’s load. We are called to be bold in helping others and not hide behind the issues and problems that we are having. When we reach out and serve it can help us get out from behind the masks we put on.

When my oldest daughter was in jr. high she did a talk to her youth group about using disguises to seem normal, to help get through life. What most people in her youth group didn’t know was that at that time she was really struggling with anxieties and self worth. She hid her problems well. What she concluded her lesson with was that when we do this we are deceivers. The problem with being a deceiver is that you will be deceived later, by someone else who may hiding things well. There is no need to “fake it till you make it”. When we can be real with each other we are being who God made us to be. When we choose to not allow our issues to own us our attitudes will change. We can see our identities change. We can look at the world in a different light and see ourselves in that same light.

As a whole we will always have problems and issues that we face. When we ask for help, or let people in on our lives, we are allowing ourselves to be open. The friends and family won’t necessarily fix our situations but they can help us carry the load. This is one of the many times in which being humble is a strength and gives us power to be who we are. So let’s get out of the tunnel vision we are in, open our eyes to the circles we are a part of and share our joys and our weaknesses with those that want to support and help us. Until next time:

Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much of a difference we can make in the lives of others.

G.Hinckley