Who are you when people aren't looking?

Generally, I don't really love country music.  Yet when I heard Blake Shelton's "Who are you when I'm not looking" on Pandora this weekend, I can't stop singing it!  It's not necessarily the style, the sound, or the music - its the message.

The song talks about a guy singing to a girl who he loves.  Yet he's wondering who she really is when she's not around him.  When "the door is locked and the shades are down," does his lover show her true self?  Does she throw things when she's mad?  Loose it emotionally when she's alone?  Even insignificant things, like if she listens to music quietly or loudly, interests him because he wants to know all about her.

Listening to this song got me to thinking.  Who are you when people aren't looking?  Do you hide what you are really feeling so you can be popular?  More accepted?  The songs says, "My oh my your so good looking...but who are you when I'm not looking?"  Does your outward appearance mask who you are inside?  Or are you beautiful because your love of the Lord is shining through to the outside?

On the other side of the coin, do you put on a great face, but when the lights are off you, do you show your true self and it's not that attractive?  In the words of the song, do you "hold yourself together like a pair of bookends" and then let it all out after everyone has gone home?

The only thing is that you are never alone.  Christ sees you all the time, and not in a "I see all, and I'm waiting to strike you down to Hell if you mess up" kind of way.  He sees you struggle, and knows what it feels like.  He has a human nature and was tempted, too.  He sees what you hide from everyone else.  Even though it may feel like you can never tell anyone what you struggle with, Christ knows and He died for you regardless.  

If who you are when people aren't looking is something that adds weight to the cross that Christ hung on to save you, then there is a way to get it into the open and not have to hide anymore.  The amazing sacrament of Confession is full to the brim of graces and when you leave the confessional after hearing the words "your sins are forgiven," you don't have to hide in the dark anymore because of the shame of your sins.  

God is a loving father who knows who we really are.  We can't hide anything from Him.  Yet when we turn from the life of sin that we may be successfully hiding from everyone else, run into His arms and ask for forgiveness, we can be free from the burden of sin that seems to be crushing down on us.

God bless you all,

Chloe M.