What do you think of when looking at this picture?

(Besides it being “a shouting teabag”, as an observant friend pointed out.)

 

It’s one of those feel good photos, isn’t it!

 

Appearances can be so very deceiving.

 

You want to know the truth behind this shot? An hour or so earlier, I was striding out of the house in a fury of despair. Despite my Englishness, I had no thought of getting a cup of tea at that moment. I just needed to exit before exploding.

 

It was a curious sensation pressing “post” to share the picture on my Facebook wall. I was intentionally crossing a line, acutely aware of conscious deception: a deliberate choice to present an illusion, an implied reality. I had put on my mask.

 

My fake subliminal message: I am a cool person who totally knows how to make the most out of life.

 

My excuse? I tell myself that folks will see through any self-promoting propaganda. After all, they must know I’m just a fellow human being!

 

Indeed, perhaps the biggest problem with all this feel good photography, is not deceiving others, but rather deluding ourselves.

 

Who we say we are, is often who we wish we were.

 

Lord, help us to know when

and how

to take off our masks.