For all intents and purposes, I have a confession to make: I’m a mess.

There I said it and the world didn’t stop but surprisingly so, the world doesn’t revolve around me so it shouldn’t cause much of a stir. Blurting it out made me feel uncomfortable because it’s one I never quite admitted to before.

This blog entry has been brewing in my head since Monday’s workout session where I spent the time listening to Elevation Church’s The Problem with Pinterest where Pastor Steven Furtick thoroughly described the essence of hiding our weaknesses to project a life that is Pinterest-worthy.

Somehow, we have been trained to think (me personally) that if our lives aren’t cookie cut into perfection, we lose the right to be someone of worth.

In all honesty, the past five days have been glittered with messes and mistakes. Entering into a new season of my life which is reflective in both work and my personal life means a steep learning curve that I have to climb. And as they say, the older you get, the more stubborn you are which can also translate to us being more prideful as we stop adding the years to our age. This makes it nearly impossible to commit to a learning curve because we have difficulty admitting that we don’t have it all together.

We want the picture perfect life without realizing that picture perfect makes us unreachable, unapproachable, and difficult to relate to. It’s actually a disservice to the people around us if we continue on with our fake ideals of perfection.

We don’t want people to know that we have problems and this it’s the problems that we hide beneath the veil: the breakdowns, the depression, the Lord hindi ko na kaya moments. We always tell people we’re alright and we have it all together. And while this, in essence, leaves us free from other people’s opinions (why it matters will always be a mystery) but failing to admit the reality of our messes leaves us blind to the glory of God and what He can do in our weaknesses.

When we keep telling the world that we are okay and that we “got this”, we stop ourselves from getting on our knees and asking God for help. The false assumption that we have to take care of it on our own make us miss what God can do if we simply let him work. Because the truth is, in the light of our Father’s love, we don’t ever have to face anything on our own ever again – especially when we are alone and in the dark.

We don’t have to shy away from our imperfections and missed steps. Instead, we must embrace who we are and what God can do despite of the many many mistakes, mishaps, insecurities, and brokenness we find ourselves in.

We have to understand that we don’t have to have it all together. We don’t have to . It’s okay to embrace our messes and it’s even better when we reach out to someone and instead of running away from their messes, pat them on the back and say, “me too”.

And in doing so, we not only give others the freedom to be who they are but we momentarily shift from focusing on our shame, focusing on us and ultimately focusing on who God is in us. We stop constructing an image of the life we wish to project and focus on the transformation that God wishes to do in us.

Because at the end of the day, the only opinion that truly matters is His and it’s good to be reminded that He looks at us with nothing but His great love that cancels out all the messes.