When I was growing up, I thought it would be so cool to have that mysterious persona–a dark figure everyone noticed but no one really knew. I would spark curiosity from all I met, but would have the advantage of hiding who I really was. I tried hard to create this persona; I even went so far as to throw away my entire wardrobe and bought only black clothing. I dyed my hair black. My world then and the world now endorses the idea that we all should hide our true selves. The less people know about you, the less ammunition they have to hurt you. Recently, however, I came to realize that the true life of mystery is actually living life as an open book.
The reason this life is so mysterious is that most do not dare to live it. It is understandable when you consider the best example of a person living without holding anything back is Jesus. He spoke only Truth and He never rejected who He was or why He was on earth. And look what happened to Him! We killed Him because He dared to show the world who He was in His entirety–God and man.
It is not easy to live in such an open and vulnerable way. It is much harder than living life closed off from others. If I do not engage with the world, it will not engage with me. After high school I grew out of my “all black” phase, but by then I was dealing with a diagnosis of Type I diabetes. I started to feel extremely misunderstood; every time I opened my mouth people mistook what I said or just wouldn’t try to understand at all. I turned away from quite a few friendships because of this, essentially self-quarantining myself and rejecting the world because I believed it had rejected me.
Over a decade has passed since my first attempt at being mysterious, but here I am again faced with the same temptation to hide from the world. This time the world itself makes it extremely easy to escape its clutches. In fact, the world is promoting seclusion in a positive light. There is no denying this past year has been difficult; the world was confronted with an epic pandemic and people all over the globe had to deal with a crisis never dealt with before. Miracle of miracles, the world now seems to be recovering and people are now beginning to consider a life similar to the one they had pre-pandemic.
Nevertheless, when I look into the future, I must be cautious. The world has been corrupted by several lies. The pandemic is no longer the issue; it is the fear of living life again in close proximity to our fellow men. Fear breeds fear, anger breeds anger, and suffering breeds suffering. I have struggled in maintaining friendships because both my friends and I have refused to speak the truth to one another. Somehow, as a society, we have given in to the lie that by not speaking truth, we are being kind to each other. If I hear the excuse, “I don’t want to burden you with what I am going through” again, I might just scream!
In the light of the flames kindled on the feast of Pentecost, I believe we have a perfect reminder that we are all in this together. We are part of one body, each with his or her own gifts, but united under one Spirit. If one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. Now more than ever, we must be honest about what we are actually going through. The world is headed down a dark path bound by lies and fear. There is another path, the way of the Spirit, to live a life of true mystery and show all you are to the entire world without thinking of what that world might do to you. I am, you are, we are all children of God, and only by uniting can we once again live in community and peace.
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Originally published at Kitty in the City
Photo: Pexels / PD-US
3 thoughts on “Mysterious”
I once read a story that Nancy Reagan once said that her husband, President Ronald Reagan, never talked about himself. I was surprised by this statement because he was, without a doubt, an accomplished man, but also because I try to genuinely offer substance when I’m asked, “how’ve you been?” Now, I assume Nancy was really just saying that Ronald wasn’t snobbish, or that Ronald was personable… I doubt he had such boundaries that prevented any discussion of himself, although some boundaries are obviously necessary, don’t you think? Remember Hezekiah showed off the temple treasures, so that doesn’t often work out very well. I suppose he should have said, “OH, enough about me, how about yourself?”
…and nothing seems to have changed with the New Testament, since Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Perhaps Jesus does not expect you to live “life as an open book”.
…and another thing (I’m beginning to sound like my Mom), Jesus said after the Transfiguration, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Furthermore (Oh boy), there’s this exchange:
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Finally (I promise), ” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.”
Yes, Jesus never lied, but “never held anything back” is a stretch.