The Light Before the Mask

The mask is heavy by mid-morning. You have spent hours polishing the surface, making sure the cracks do not show, smiling at the right moments while feeling nothing but static inside.

It is exhausting to be the person everyone thinks you are when the person you know you are is falling apart behind the eyes. But the light does not need your performance.

It does not need the flawless facade. There is light within a person of light, and it lights up the whole world—even when that person is tired, even when the mask slips.

You came from the light, the place where the light came into being on its own accord, long before you learned to pretend. The performance is for the world, but the truth is for the One who sees in secret.

You do not have to hold the weight of being perfect today. The light was there before the first smile you faked, and it will be there when the mask finally falls.