Plastic and Perfect

I try so hard to be the good cheerleader in our house, but sometimes I just can't do it. Who cheers for the cheerleaders? Are they expected to just always "be on"...smiling faces, pom poms waiving? Is it possible to be real and supportive at the same time?

Keith had mentioned today in the Crossroads Newsletter about how true intimacy doesn't happen in the dark, but in the light. That got me thinking....why is it that we try so hard to put up these perfect plastic facades, all the while keeping the true self hidden in the dark?

I couldn't sleep tonight so I came down stairs and started reading my Bible. It flipped open to Lamentations...pretty fitting for my mood, lamenting over jobs or lack thereof, frustrated with life and how everything seems so out of whack.

Anyway...Lamentations 3:19-26

I remember my afflictions and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every mourning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.


God wants us to be real. He wants us to come to him, not with our perfectly memorized prayers and shined shoes...but the real deal, afflicted, bitter, downcast, yet still hoping in the fact that his compassions never fail. He wants to shine his healing light into the deepest depths of our heart...the places where we cram all our junk when company's coming!

I guess my questions before got answered...there is a place where cheerleaders can turn to...a place to be real...a place to get renewed. God can wipe your tears, fluff your pom poms and send you on your way with wings like eagles! The only catch is that we have to let go of plastic perfection.