THE SHOW MUST GO ON

We had two perfectly good, full costumes.  Costumes that made sense…that were easy to distinguish.

A full chef costume including cooking utensils and a FULL Dr. McStuffins costume complete with stethoscope.  Cute, obvious costumes that would have KILLED at the fall festival we were going to attend.

We tried them on.  NOPE.  She wouldn’t have it.  She had something in mind and it wasn’t these nice, neat put together costumes.

“What’s a chef?” she asked me.  I explained what a chef did and she didn’t understand, she looked at me with a blank stare…sad sad day…her mom has obviously not shown her what cooking actually is.

So I folded.  “Ok Liv, what do YOU want to be.”

“A unicorn sheriff with a wig,” she replied, grinning ear to ear.

“K”, was my reply.  Just “K”.  What else am I supposed to say to that?

We walked up to the fall festival and all eyes were on Liv.  I will say that she was the CUTEST Rapunzel Unicorn Sheriff I’ve ever seen… and she was the ONLY one at the festival.

“AWWW…look how unique Liv is.” … “Of course Liv has an imagination…”  were the remarks of the sweet people running the festival.  In other words, “Liv looks like a boo boo mess… what is she?”  or simply “What the heck?”. It didn’t matter….she was happy.

Next stop was trick-or-treating.

We set out down the street and saw our first porch with a light on.  We walked up the driveway and there was a tall skinny man sitting on the steps of his porch with a hood on.  It was dead silent.  We walked closer, Liv trotting in front like a good sheriff.  As we got closer the man didn’t move.  So I feebly asked, “Sir, do you have candy?” He reached in a plastic bag and put two pieces of candy in Liv’s bag and just sat there. We walked away silently. “Was he just trying to be creepy?” someone asked… I think he just WAS creepy.

So the first house was an awkward BUST.

As we got to the sidewalk Liv stopped everyone and said, “Guys, guys….at this next house I’m going to do better.  I’m gonna act happier.” (bless her heart…she’s such a performer)

She, too, was aware that that first house was REALLL awkward and she wasn’t happy with how it went down. As we walked she began rehearsing what she was going to say: “Knock knock…trick or treat…thank you so much.” She was ready. We arrived at the next house.

She walked toward the steps of the porch going over her lines out loud, “I’m going to say ‘knock knock, trick-or-treat, that’s what I’m going to say.'” She was grinning ear to ear as she trotted up the stairs… and then…

WAM!

She fell FLAT on her stomach on the steps. This wasn’t just a trip…it was a straight up face plant. She had tripped on the front legs of her unicorn costume.  It was sad and unfortunate but it was GLORIOUS as far as falls are concerned.  (Lord forgive me for seeing the beautiful in my kids humiliation)  She looked back at us to see our reaction.  What she saw was a VERY supportive and concerned Papa and a mama who was doubled over laughing….not even trying to hide it.

She quickly jumped up…THE SHOW MUST GO ON.  She killed her lines and got loads of candy…so all in all… it was a success… a glorious success.

We set out for the next house…a little slower now…Liv had some bruises but we were good.  Moving forward.

My family, being the rebels that we are at heart, decided that we wanted to trick-or-treat at this HUGE OLD plantation that sits in the middle of the neighborhood.  It is historic and huge and everything you imagine an old plantation to be.  It is always locked up tight by a gate…not an inviting place.  They are DEFINITELY not trick or treat type people…BUT… the gate was open and their porch lights could be seen in the distance.  We looked at each other and nudged Liv forward into the gate.  WHY NOT?  We had always wanted to see what lay past the gate.

So, in all maturity, we pushed Liv forward first.

The scene was like something out of a movie.  A vast gate in the darkness, dimly lit by gas lights, and a small Rapunzel unicorn sheriff walking slowly towards the entrance.  It was beautiful…we were excited.  What sort of fanciness would we encounter?? They would surely give the BEST candy…or maybe cash.

And then… in the silence…

WAM!

Rapunzel Unicorn Sheriff belly flopped right at the entrance.  This was even more glorious than the fall before.  This was a slow motion, belly flop and she actually SLID on her belly a few feet before her pumpkin full of candy exploded all over the yard.

She just laid there.  Silence for 30 seconds before she looked back and gave a thumbs up and a grin.

Good Lord…these are the moments that test your parenting skills.  What will you do in the refiner’s fire?

Well, I found out what I would do….laugh.

This time I fell to my knees. I couldn’t believe the amazing-ness of the setting and the irony of a small black Rapunzel unicorn sheriff braving the plantation… and just straight up busting it.  Classic.

We gathered the candy and QUICKLY moved on to the next house….we were all a little ashamed of the display.

Those darn front legs.  They were killin her.  Two dangling, limp legs.

We walked a few blocks and Liv recovered.  She was still grinning from ear to ear…un-phased by her tumbles.  We decided to wrap it up and go to one last house.

We approached the steps to the porch and Liv, seeing them, begins to say to herself, “I’m not gonna fall…I’m not gonna fall.”

She chanted this mantra up the sidewalk and right up the stairs.   “I’m not gonna fall…I’m not gonna fall…”

WAM!

No lie people…she busted it AGAIN.  This time it threw her into the front door of the home.

The two unicorn legs were in between her legs and her arms were pinned.

I’m telling you… GLORIOUS.  I know that there is a God because of these moments.  I was UNDONE this time.  My sweet sweet, grace-filled child, was so confident that she wouldn’t repeat the past…and then found herself crammed into a strangers front door, pinned and candy everywhere for the THIRD time.

This time I was not alone in the laughing.  Liv let out the longest belly laugh in history.  She laughed and laughed until we could get her untangled and stand her up.

We called it a night after that.  I mean, how much more could we take.  I was sore from laughing…oh and my child was a little beat up too.

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I can think of times in my life where I couldn’t seem to stay standing.  One trip, one fall after another. It would feel out of nowhere sometimes.  Why in the world was I finding myself sprawled out on my face, after a glorious fall, over and over again.

Have you ever felt that way?  Just beat up.  Toes bloody from stubbing them, knees scraped from one fall after another.

What trips us up?

Sometimes it’s our costume. That façade we’ve decided to put on instead of being our true selves.  We wear so many masks and cover up so much that we lose track of who we really are.  We are motivated by the culture we live in to hide it all, call it good and pretend like there is NOTHING hiding under that Rapunzel wig or the giant limp unicorn we are trying to maneuver up the porches of  our life.

Costumes are made to give us the chance to be someone else.  We can choose a new us… a beautiful princess can emerge instead of the beat up, rag doll that we truly are.  A superhero can save the day in place of a person who feels they have failed everyone around them…or maybe someone who has truly failed everyone around them.

We begin to believe that the Lord wants a polished, hidden version of who we are too. We come to Him with only PART of who we are.  We choose what we will lay at His feet…as if He doesn’t already know it all.  We perform for those around us and for the Lord.  We dare not remove the mask and show what’s really going on…the deep down, nitty gritty truth about our brokenness.

And so we trip and fall, trying to hold it all together.  We face plant over and over again…but in isolation…we wouldn’t want anyone to see the wardrobe malfunction or the mask slip off of our face.

So our knees are bruised and bleeding…but no one will ever know, THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

Or maybe we’re tripping over stuff that we are ALLOWING to stay in our lives.

Maybe our brokenness and sin are like two limp unicorn legs hanging in front of us, threatening a humiliating disaster at every step.  It’s a balancing act…our life of sin.  We are constantly having to step around it and pay close attention that it doesn’t bring it all crashing down.

Hanging in our lives are our pride, anger, jealousy, sexual sin, apathy, dishonesty…etc.  We’ve all got something that is threatening to trip us up.

BUT THE GLORIOUS TRUTH IS THIS:

We are called to RUN A RACE…and to run it well.

Do you know what that means?  It means that it is POSSIBLE to be unhindered, free, completely and honestly who you are.  It means that you were designed to run and to run well this race of life that God has given us.  It means that we don’t HAVE to stumble over our limp legs anymore.  We weren’t created or called to wear costumes and cover up who we are…our lives are not meant to be one face plant after another:

“You were running superbly!
Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience?
This detour doesn’t come from the One who called
you into the race in the first place.”
Galatians 5: 7-8 (MSG)

“ Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through.
That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”
Hebrews 12:1 (MSG)

STRIP DOWN AND START RUNNING.  Who cut in on you?  What is deflecting you from the finish line… from being EXACTLY who God called you to be?  What sin is dragging behind you FOR NO REASON at all.  STRIP DOWN AND START RUNNING.  Own up to your mess, call your sin’s bluff.  Strip the costume off and come into the light of God’s amazing forgiveness.  Lay it all out there and watch as God heals you.  God has called you to a gloriously free existence…where He is constantly forgiving you for your screw ups, for your masks and scraped up knees.  Rest in that and keep moving.

He loves you….Rapunzel Unicorn Sheriff….he truly does.