Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Tears of a Clown

"Now if there’s a smile on my face, it’s only there trying to fool the public,
But when it comes down to fooling you, now honey, that’s quite a different subject.
Don’t let my glad expression, give you the wrong impression, cause really I’m sad.
I’m sadder than sad.
Cause you’re gone and you hurt me so bad…
Like a clown I appear to be glad.
Now there’s some sad things known to man,
but ain’t too much sadder than the tears of a clown, when there’s no one around."

These were the words I heard while riding in the car with my daughter one day. And as I sat there and forced myself to listen, the Holy Ghost grabbed me and spoke this in my spirit…

Many of you know that I am an active face-booker. Yea, I admit, I like it. I have my farm and my restaurant and my apartment and I try to keep it up to date, but for the most part it affords me the opportunity to be a witness to share Jesus and His love with anyone with an open heart. And I am so grateful for the tremendous ways that God continues to show Himself through it all.

But anyway, just a couple of days before I heard this song, I saw a post to pray for Sis. So and So, because she had attempted suicide. And immediately I began to pray for her and even posted a prayer for others to stand in agreement with me. A day or so later, someone posted that she was okay and thanked everyone for their prayers. Bless God!

I wondered what would have made this person want to kill herself. What could have been so bad, (she thought), would want to make her take her life. She had always been one who had posted Scriptures, words of encouragement and even videos to try and encourage someone else. And here she was in so much pain herself that she wanted to die. And I remember thinking and asking the Lord, why? What in the world, Lord? She’s an encourager. And that’s when it was revealed to me because then I heard this song, “Tears of A Clown.”

It’s a song by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles sang way back in, 1970??? And as I listened the words began to minister to me. Just like a clown, people can appear to be smiling, appear to have it all together, appear to have it all under control, but in a lonely room they cry the tears of a clown. A clown makes people laugh. They make people smile. That’s what they do. And they wear these painted smiles on their faces because no matter what, they know what they are called to do and know that they can’t cheer someone else up if they themselves are not cheerful. SO they put on this face that they are, but deep down inside, things can be hurting them. That no one knows about or sees. And that is what happened with this person. They are an encourager. God called them to be so. It’s a gift that He placed in them. But in order that they may carry it out, they sometimes have to put on a face that all is well with their world. Because they know that God is yet good, but somewhere between relaying that to others and applying it for themselves, it gets distorted and they end up sad inside. Even if just for a little while.

And God made me realize this…. Yes, sometimes we’ve got to encourage ourselves. And someone who has the gift of encouragement knows that all too well, and they do it most of the time. But there are times where THEY themselves need encouragement. They put so much of themselves, so much energy, so much time (often), to encourage someone else. To pray for someone else that they may be strengthened, that sometimes they can drain themselves and have nothing left, and end up in a place they should not be. God said be aware of that.

We have people all around us (hopefully) who are always trying to encourage someone. You have people that you know, that you know, that you know, that if you called on them at any given time, they would pray for you, they would have a word that would speak life to you; they would have an answer to your problem. God said take note of them. Pray for them. Give THEM a word of encouragement every now and then. It doesn’t take a lot. Acknowledge what they do and just say thank you for encouraging me today.

“Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my surface hid
Smiling in the public eye
but in the lonely room I cry
the tears of a clown
when there's no one around.”

Keep that in mind the next time you see or hear a word of encouragement from someone. They may be hurting on the inside and crying when there’s no one around, the tears of a clown.

God is good. And I was just brought to tears at the goodness and the realness of God, Who can use a simple song to reach us wherever we are and whoever we might be pretending to be.

A servant of the Lord,

Sis. E

http://www.butgodisreal.com

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