Dare To Be Real

“And while He was in Bethany, [a guest] in the house of Simon the leper, as He was reclining [at table], a woman came with an alabaster jar of ointment [perfume] of pure nard, very costly and precious; and she broke the jar and poured [the perfume] over His head.” Mark 14:3

I really admire that woman.

Some of the other gospels say this woman was Mary, the sister of Martha, who brought her alabaster box to Jesus.

I’m sure Mary had her faults and weaknesses, just like you and I do.

But, there was something different about her.

What she did that day, ought to be done by every woman on this planet.

Mary did such a very simple thing, and yet, so many of us look at it as something to run away from.

So what was Mary’s secret that made her so different from other women?

What did she do that sets her apart from all the other women in the Bible?

If you’re like me, you don’t like to be exposed.

Nobody does, really.

Well, Mary took a huge risk of being exposed, just by bringing her alabaster box out in front of critical people, breaking it, and thereby even accused of wasting the precious ointment on Jesus.

But she did it in spite of all that.

An alabaster box in Bible times was made out of costly, marble-like stone and was more shaped like a vase perhaps than a box. After the vase was filled, it was sealed off with a certain type of wax and to retrieve whatever was inside of it, the vase had to be broken.

Mary brought Nard in her alabaster vase, which was an aromatic amber-colored essential oil derived from a flowering plant of the valerian family and was regarded as one of the most precious oils in that day.

And so when Mary broke her vase, it irked Judas Iscariot and he accused her of wasting that expensive oil and the men with him commenced to ridicule and reprove her as well.

But Jesus was deeply touched by her deed, and praised her, saying what she did was a beautiful thing.

Really.

So what was it that Mary actually did?

You and I also have an alabaster vase, just like Mary did.

Our heart is like an alabaster vase filled with an expensive oil. The oil contains a beautiful perfume inside that is able to touch and minister to hundreds of people.

If we allow it to.

But the hard truth of what we really do with our heart, or our alabaster box, is, we hide it.

We pretend. Just like when my cousin and I used to dress up when we were very young, pretending to be this fancy, highfalutin’ gal that wears long sweeping dresses and swaying high heels. Funny, right?

And then we carry this ‘pretend’ game with us into adulthood, not fully realizing what we are doing.

We pretend there is nothing amiss with us and we give a message out to the rest of the world that tells them, I am a good person. But deep inside of us we are going through a terrible time, but we dare not let anyone know. We somehow think we need to appear strong, and that if we expose our actual weaknesses, we will appear weak. We don’t share any of our deep struggles and this portrays a picture to others as having our life under control.

So we hide our alabaster box, and, choosing to not be vulnerable as Mary was, we never get to experience the emotional freedom she felt the moment she broke her alabaster box.

Mary was daring to be real.

We aren’t real.

We don’t dare.

We are scared of showing our true colors. Or the real me.

Where have we lost the real me? The real you? Why are we ashamed of who we are?

Mary was not ashamed of who she was, obviously. That question had been settled in her mind before she ever decided to do what she did.

I love being around people that know who they are and who are ok with it.

But what makes us scared of being vulnerable, or what causes it? What is keeping us from exposing ourselves, our true colors, and why are we so skeptical of doing it?

There are always different reasons in each situation, but the most common reason is usually, fear. Fear is terrifying, and fear binds. Fear comes as a result of emotional damage, which often comes on the trails of abuse and abuse always results in emotional pain. Emotional pain in our hearts causes us to lock up inside of us, thus barring any chances of breaking our alabaster box.

When fear is present, the emotional part of our body shuts down and goes into survival mode. We subconsciously build high walls around our heart in order to keep it safe from getting hurt again. Make sense?

By refusing to break our alabaster box and expose the real me, we will find ourselves missing out.

A lot.

We miss out on so many blessings. We miss out on the fragrance of freedom, the spilling of the oil in our heart it brings to our soul, thus never finding a deep, and meaningful relationship with God or with others.

We are so tied down and bound to the chains of fear that it often seems like there’s no way out. It’s too scary. Too many unknowns.

But, Praise God! There is a solution! We, too, can do as Mary did, and dare to be the real me, the real you, and dare to come out of our hiding place and expose our heart to the whole world.

If we have love.

Love has a powerful way of removing the mask of fear we all insist to hide behind.

It won’t be easy. It wasn’t easy for brave Mary, but she had so much love for Jesus and she took courage.

To me, she was being strong by being real. She wasn’t a sissy, we might say.

And to know Jesus affirmed what she was doing, gives me the courage to do the same.

And if you’re at a place right now, where you find yourself feeling scared at the idea of opening up the window to the inside of your heart, just relax. You do not have to take that step. It’s totally your choice.

I know how it feels to being scared of people, and have practiced holding them at length, until I feel that it’s safe enough to let them close to my heart.

We look at others, and going by the mask they wear, we automatically assume their life is next to perfect.

But none of us are perfect. We’re all human and we all mess up every now and then. So that puts us all in the same category, right?

Nevertheless, there will be harsh critics. There’ll be people who try to find something about your life they can find fault in, with their own sin staring you in the face. But refuse to let that stop you. Just think of Mary, and the courage she had to walk into that room, past Mr. Judas the Critic, and do what she knew she needed to do.

Mary dared to be real.

Today we can do more than just admire her.

You and I can be a Mary today. We can dare to be real, dare to walk right up to Jesus and break our alabaster box, allowing Him to use us for His purpose, letting the fragrance of our heart spill into the lives of those around us each day.

Sigh, I know. It’s gonna be hard, especially the first time.

But it’s worth it!

LET”S DARE TO BE REAL!