Garrison Keillor said, “We always have a backstage view of ourselves.” We let the audience see only the neatly arranged stage. But behind the curtain all kinds of things are lying around: old failures, hurts, guilt and shame.
We hear that we are living in a shameless society, and that people are no longer bothered by shame. I don’t believe it. Shame plagues our souls.
Psychologists tell us that shame sweeps over us when we overstep our abilities, or when our fantasy about who we would like to be encounters the backstage reality of who we really are.
Nothing is more crippling to our souls than working at hiding shame. We lock up more and more doors, sealing off more and more rooms of the heart to prevent our true selves from being discovered. We think we are keeping the world out, but in fact we are keeping ourselves locked in.
Thanks to Craig Barnes
My Commentary:
This reflection names something most of us recognize but rarely admit: the distance between the person we present and the person we know ourselves to be. The “stage” is polished, composed, and acceptable. But the “backstage” carries our unfinished stories — failures, regrets, wounds, and quiet disappointments.
Shame enters precisely at that intersection — when who we wish to be collides with who we are. And — rather than bringing that tension into the light, we begin to hide it. We close doors within ourselves. We carefully manage what others see. Over time, we can become strangers even to our own hearts.
But the tragedy is not that we have a backstage. The tragedy is believing it must remain hidden.
From a Christian perspective, the Gospel is not addressed to the polished stage, but to the cluttered backstage. Christ does not wait for us to clean it up before He enters. He walks straight into it — into our wounds, our shame, our fear — and meets us there, not with condemnation, but with mercy. “Do not be afraid,” He says, again and again.
What we try to conceal is precisely what God wants to heal.
And so the way forward is not deeper hiding, but gentle honesty. To open a door. To let light in. To allow ourselves to be known — not perfectly, but truthfully. Because it is only when we stop pretending that we finally begin to be free.
We think we are protecting ourselves by hiding. But in truth, love — and healing — begin when we step out from behind the curtain.
“It is only when we stop pretending that we finally begin to be free.” What does this statement and this article mean to YOU?
LIFE IS WAY TOO SHORT TO SPEND ANOTHER DAY AT WAR WITH YOURSELF — GOD
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