Do you notice how many moms hide behind a curtain these days? It’s easy to feel inadequate when the images we see on magazines and online show only happy kids and smiling moms. The reality of course, is much different than the facade.

Even though my experience may not be exactly like yours, my hunch is that our stories are not all that different. Women have been hiding behind different kinds of curtains for generations. The image of the perfect housewife from the 40’s and 50’s was a facade that often covered alcohol abuse and infidelity.

The 60’s and 70’s saw the culture plummeting from legalism to liberty in a no holds barred attempt to gain a false sense of self and freedom. We burned our bras and gave “free” love away, only to end up disillusioned. Solomon was right. Truly there is “nothing new under the sun.” The fact that we hide is not new, but the things we hide behind surely are. In 2017, we’re hiding behind a screen. The Internet is like a giant curtain, and in front of it, everyone’s an expert.

Brad Paisley summed it up perfectly in his song, I’m So Much Cooler Online, a song about a young boy who was pretending to the someone else online. As a blogger, I have seen this reality up-close and personal, as many wives and mothers I meet struggle in their search for significance amid a growing sea of voices. “Platform” is what’s coveted now, and many mothers are losing their families in order to find it.

The Internet, as it turns out, is a great place to hide in plain sight. Authentic living doesn’t need a platform, it IS the platform.  Our children need us to be authentic mothers if we are going to have any hope of seeing our them navigate the challenges that lie ahead.  They need to see how we handle our challenges instead of how we hide them.   They need to see us walk through them instead of stoically standing and pretending that everything is okay. And most importantly, they need to see us run to the Lord and ask Him for courage to share our struggles with others so they can walk our hard roads with us.

Are you ready to be authentic?