Encanto, day 2. What else can be a barrier to a close relationship with God? Enter Luisa, Mirabel’s oldest sister. (If you need a catch up on what I’m talking about, read yesterday’s post and/or watch Encanto.)
Luisa’s gift is being super strong. She can fix leaning houses, redirect a river, carry multiple donkeys and is just generally expected to be strong enough to fix everything. She gets her own song, ‘Surface Pressure’.
She’s interesting because there are different angles here. There’s the need to always be strong and never show a weakness because that’s what others expectations are, and she doesn’t want to disappoint or let people down. There’s having her whole worth based on the work she does. And, of course, the need to live up to the uigh standards that Abua sets (I told you, read previous post!)
In her song, as she is finally being honest with someone about how she is feeling, she actually sings the line, ‘I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service.’ Relate to that, anyone?
But then she also sings, ‘if I could shake the crushing weight of expectations would that free some room for joy or relaxation or simple pleasure?’
I know I can get focused on my worth being caught up in my work. The problem with that is when work doesn’t go as planned or disappointment hits, my self-worth is affected too. I also know that, in order to ‘protect’ the people I love, I can hide the stress and pressure (I’m better at that one than I used to be!)
And Luisa is right, if we shake the weight of what others expect of and from us, there’s more room for joy and simple pleasures. John 10:10, Jesus says ‘I came that they might have life, and have it to the full.’ Yes, we have to work, but that does not determine our worth or our identity. God does not put pressure on us to get results. God doesn’t need us to hide the stress and weakness from him.
We are children of God, and the more we focus on work and in being strong, the less room there is for that truth to take root. Next time I have a bad day, I’ll need to remember that I am still God’s child. And the next time I’m feeling under so much pressure I might break, I don’t need to go through that alone either. God listens when I pray honestly. Oh, and I might have one or two friends to come alongside me too…
The Reason for my Hope Blog 