I love the hit television show “This is Us.” Have you watched it?
The show tells the story of the Pearson family – siblings Kevin, Kate, and Randall primarily. It interweaves stories from their childhood, parents, and adult lives to describe who they are and how the different moments from their lives inform who they are today.
What I particularly love about the show, besides that it is one of the best-written shows on network television, is that it is willing to be open about the fact that our lives are more complex than what we like to portray. It doesn’t hide the how Kevin is his father’s son, or how Kate struggles with self-worth, or even how Randall, as the adopted member of the family, wonders about his place in the family. This all while they seek to be an actor, an aspiring singer, or an executive turned stay-at-home dad. The Pearson family is complex and we love them for it.
We love them because we are complex people, yet I wonder if we are open about the complexities of our own life.
Sometimes, if I am being honest with myself, I think we like wearing masks to hide who we are or even our struggles from one another. We like to pretend that we have it all together or that difficult moments do not affect us. We hide our pain and struggles. We hide it from ourselves, our families, and even, yes, God.
In my own life, I know there are things I have hid from God or not completely shared with the Lord out of fear that God would no longer want me. That if I shared with God my struggles or pain that, perhaps, God would see me as a failure and give up on me. I think we all fear that in some way. Would God stop loving me if I was honest about this struggle or pain?
Truth is that is our own projection of God and not the God we see revealed in Scripture. We see in Scripture how God loves us unconditionally and even seeks to bring hope into the places of brokenness. I always love how we see, in story after story, Jesus seeing who people are behind their masks and loving them anyway.
You and I are at our best when we experience God’s love in the places that we often hide from ourselves. We experience growth as disciples when we know that there is a love that accepts us and doesn’t judge us for who we are. God never gives up on us.
I wonder … where do you need to experience that love in your life? Where do you need to know that God loves you no matter what?
Shannon Blosser 