Caricature

Why are we so afraid to be who we really are? Maybe it’s because we’ve experienced too much pain and too much rejection. The logic goes something like this… if I pretend to be what others expect me to be; maybe they’ll like me and won’t reject me. The problem is that they may not like fake you anyway and if they do, it’s not really you.

As I mentioned before I’ve been a Christian for the past 30 years and a pastor for the last 20. Over these past few decades I’ve discovered that church goers are great at playing this game. We hide ourselves behind a veil of religious jargon and performance hoping that no one will notice the broken and wounded person behind it.

As a result we become caricatures of who God created us to be. Pastors are especially susceptible to this. We’re the “professionals” we’re expected to have it all together, us and our families. So we play the game, it’s sad but true.

I’m trying to be more and more real… more genuine everyday. As I have undertaken exploring creativity the past few months, I’ve discovered or should I say rediscover an artistic side of me I had lost beneath the veil.

Most of the world, including the church rewards left brain thinking. These organized, methodical, problem solving managers are rewarded and promoted. Right brain thinkers on the other hand are… tolerated and appreciated only after their unconventional concepts bear fruit.

For years I’ve suppressed my right brain because people liked my left brain better. I’m discovering that God created both sides of my brain and said it was good.

So, after all there years maybe, just maybe I’m become less and less a caricature and more and more who God intended me to be.

(On a much lighter side, if you like the graphic above you can make your own at Vista Print. Caricatures belong on paper, not on our hearts.)


Copyright © Tom Zawacki 2006


I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did--Jesus crucified. I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate--I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it-- and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God's Spirit and God's power did it, 1 Corinthians 2:2-4 The Message