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The Mask. The ubiquitous mask!
Everywhere, we see them, worn by almost everyone. You probably wear one yourself, as I do. Even Queen Elizabeth was shown worldwide wearing one at the funeral of Prince Philip.
In a recent conversation with a fellow resident, Maureen said, "I sometimes fear that I will be wearing this thing until I die." We hope that that won't be the case.
The primary purpose of the mask is to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, but a side effect is to hide us at least partially from one another.
We have all said and done things that hide the truth from others, perhaps to pretend that we are different from what we truly are. Even our closest friends and family may not realize the truth. Often, we respond to greetings like "How are you?" with "Just fine," when we are truly not so. Better to respond truthfully, or with humour or an evasive answer that changes the subject.
An astute friend or family member may recognize the truth by the tone of our voice. I remember well an excellent manager that I had years ago. He called to ask how I was doing on a project, and I replied, "Just fine." Stuart immediately responded, "That bad, eh!" He recognized by the tone of my voice that I was having problems with my assignment.
We must, however, be careful never to sink to lying or being deceptive, like Jacob did. Genesis 27 documents how Rachel coached her son, Jacob, to deceive his blind father so that his brother Esau would be deprived of his heritage.
Genesis 27:19 – Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing." (NIV)
Revelation 21:8 clearly states that there will be no liars in heaven. Even "little white lies" can be dangerous. We can never fool God! Fortunately, "If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 NIV)
But on a positive note, we can fool ourselves by our own actions. How marvellous it is when we show God's love toward others, and we don't even realize that we are doing so.
Matthew 25:40 – The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (NIV)
This chapter in Matthew documents so many powerful examples of how wonderful it is when we are even fooled ourselves.
I am blessed to live where daily I see both staff and residents interacting. They are honestly trying to help others, and they often succeed without even knowing it.
My challenge is to do likewise!
Prayer: Dear Father, thanks for the many opportunities that You give us to show Your love to others. Help us to be faithful in doing so, even when we feel weak and limited in our abilities. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2024 – In Peru — Please pray for this summer season at our beach-town home to be a blessing to the little Fellowship we have started and that the Lord would "add to our numbers those who are being saved".
Housing: "Update April 14, 2024; Please pray extra fervently for tomorrow when she and her son will be going..." 
Thanks for the good word, Vincent.
Beautiful! The blessings of God Almighty for your wonderful words!
Hi Walter!
I love your devotionals written from your home in long term care.
You inspire me. Thank you!
Good day sir,
Your title Who Are We Fooling? is most apt. An easily researched fact is that the N95 mask, the very best of the readily available masks, filters particles down to .4 microns in size.
Blessings.
I wish you would put your meditations in a little booklet They are very apt, insightful and I always find spiritual illumination in them. Very often as I begin reading, I can tell who is the writer – you!!
Thank you for your contributions, they are positive, hopeful and I very much enjoy them
(ON)
Thank you, Walter, for you timely message. The thing that bothers me about the mask is that behind them there are so few smiles. It’s as if people have forgotten how to smile or if they were to smile, they would pass on Covid. Just an observation but troubling to me. Pray your day goes well.
Always am blest by your devotionals.
Greetings Vince,
Thank you for another one of your interesting, informative, and meaningful devotionals. Our Lord knows our feelings at all times and is very forgiving if we try to cover our true feelings and He guides us to be truthful in our responses at all times.
Blessings for your writings.
Good morning Vincent,
I love that your devotionals are about everyday occurrences. I don’t know how you come up with them, but I definitely appreciate them and share them with others. It is so true that long before we had to wear masks, we masked the truth from others because that was easier than telling all. Perceptive and caring people did recognize sometimes the false hood and inquire further and then we found out that sharing can have healing effects. Hopefully, we never hide the truth from God who is always there to listen and comfort. Being retired and just living in a house with my husband, we have not had to use the mask in the same way that people who have to work or have more involvement with others have had to, so we don’t have that dreaded feeling of “the mask”, but I do understand the concept from others.
However, the main point is the concept of helping others and not even knowing that it is happening. Sometimes when you do find out how something you said or did had an effect on others in inspires you to “pay it forward” even more. Thank you for “Who are we fooling?” and thank you for sharing always your great thoughts. May you continue to observe and share. Blessings.
Your message truly touched me. Thank you so much!!!!
Good morning, Walter,
Thank you for blessing so many with your devotionals.
Thank you for encouraging us to show God’s love to others. I often think of your stories of God’s faithfulness and the way we can encourage others in small and large ways.