Me:  Look at you Prodigal!

Prodigal:  Yes, I am about to perform.

Me:  Let me give you tips about performing first.

 

This is from the book Reclaiming Your Heart by Denise Hildreth Jones

 

The problem with the performing heart, in other words, lies not with the performance, but with the heart.

Performance becomes a problem when it take the place of authentic emotions and actions.  It’s a problem when it is driven by fear of rejection or mistreatment and especially when it becomes such a habit that no one, not even the performer, recognizes it for what it is.

When you’re living out of a healthy heart, you may choose to perform to make some interactions more comfortable.  You may choose to adjust your actions to your environment.  You may even choose to join a community theater and act a part.  But when the time comes to be real, to be vulnerable, to be yourself, you can do that too, without fear.

 

I see people with this performance that they put on.  By the way, some of you are really bad at it.  I mean really bad.  It makes me sad for them really.  Because even if you did fool me, then did you ever fool God?

Where did God ask us to put on a mask and pretend?  Where did God reject us when we go to Him with our faults and our sins?

The stress of figuring out how to perform and be someone else is getting tiring isn’t it?  What would happen if you started being real?  Could it really be that scary?  It is not as bad as you think and maybe it might reduce all that anxiety that your caring around all the time.

 

Hosea 2:14-15

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.  I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org