Christian Masquerade?

After a long day of class and right before dinner, I took a nice walk along "THE" river that gentle meandered through the meadow near the campus building. It was a little chilly and my windbreaker was just good enough. 

As I meandered, my conversation with God went on

... some are unfinished thoughts from the classes about being a woman (or even a man), 

... some are just praises for the works that God has brought to my life, 

... some are praying for names of people that came to my mind,

... some are things that didn't sit well in my heart about how people connect/disconnect with each other,

... the quest went on ...

Came back to the dorm and sat down to read a chapter from a book that our prof gave us before the end of the day ... somewhere along the chapter, it says ...

"... When I became a Christian, I was taught that anger was a sin. Wanting to be like Jesus, I stuffed all feelings of irritation, annoyance, resentment, and hatred. They were sins. right? ... When we do not process before God the very feelings that make us human, such as fear or sadness or anger, we lead." Our churches are filled with 'leaking' Christians who have not treated their emotions as a discipleship issue. Grieving is not possible without paying attention to our anger and sadness. Most people who fill churches are 'nice' and 'respectable'. Few explode in anger - at least in public. The majority, like me, stuff these 'difficult feelings,' trusting God will honor our noble efforts. the result is that we leak through in soft ways such as passive-aggressive behavior (e.g. showing up late), sarcastic remarks, a nasty tone of voice, and the giving of the 'silent treatment' ..." from

Perhaps, we can't change the whole world, but we ought to make a different in our own connection with people that God lead us to. 

Christian-masquerade is quite hurtful at times ...