the crushing weight of needing to smile while crying silently in the checkout line

The Light Beneath Your Cracked Mask

The middle of the day asks for a mask you are too tired to wear. You stand in the checkout line, forcing a smile while the tears run silently down your cheeks, terrified someone will see the crack in the performance.

But the light does not need your face to be composed to live inside you. It is not afraid of your trembling mouth or your red eyes.

It is already there, beneath the act, holding the parts of you that are falling apart. You do not have to fix your expression before you are worthy of being held.

The weight you carry is seen, even when you pretend it isn't there.

Drawing from

1 John 3:19-20, Matthew 11:28-30

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