We lead parallel lives, and do our best to ensure they remain disparate.
One life holds the ‘public’ portions of ourselves that we advertise and allow others to experience. The other life is less show and more shame, and accordingly a life we make all efforts to remain hidden. Self-interest, greed, lust, envy, and pride are full-time residents of the latter.
The portions we advertise are both viewed and impacted by those in our proximity, enabling a constant feedback loop and developmental growth. While the hidden portions remain unseen, their progress stymied by the lack of external perspective and ultimately daylight. The longer we continue our obfuscation, the more difficult acknowledgement of said hidden portions becomes. This choice to omit parts of our lives from public record can feel like privacy and is self-justified by a plethora of convenient ‘perception’ excuses. But the truth is, what we allow in and make available of ourselves is fundamental in our personal development. Jesus intimately understand this phenomenon and described it in Luke 11:
“Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.””
The best lit room in my house is by far the living room. It has a double layer of windows and even a sliding glass door which allow light to stream in from all-angles. At night, it is flooded by can-lights which illuminate it in entirety.
Utilizing that comparison, I come up woefully short. While there are certainly well lit areas in my life, an abundance of shadows remain, more akin to my attic than my living room. But what an awesome challenge to consider: not just complete transparency, but complete illumination.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
What have you left unacknowledged and hidden from view? Has doing so really helped or merely added to your stress and frustration?
Acknowledgement provides incredible freedom and relief, but pulling these ‘hidden’ areas of our lives into the light is no small task. However, the effort we are exerting daily to keep them from view is equally burdensome. Shame is likely to come along with our reveals, but the relief and restoration that follow are significant. The power these taboo areas of our lives hold is only made manifest in the shadows. Once we have brought them into the light, they are rendered toothless. Let us embrace true freedom and experience the awesome growth that comes from a life wholly revealed.