Cone of Shame
As we go through our days that are full of responsibilities, errands and busywork we begin to feel like we’re constricted. As if the burdens of everyday life have made it more difficult to do the things we “need” to do and enjoy the things we could find joy in. The other day my daughter bought a new toy for herself, a toy cat named Whispers. This toy is part of the Doc McStuffins collection, so it also came with a pet carrier, stethoscope, cast, food/water bowl and a cone collar otherwise known as the cone of shame. Clearly my daughter watches Doc McStuffins and knows what the cone of shame is for. As I watched her play with her new toy I was in awe of the way she sees the world. She picked up the cone of shame and asked me to help her put it on her cat like a skirt. When I finished helping her I couldn’t help but notice the irony. So many of us are going through life wearing our cone of shame, cone of stress, cone of worry, cone of pressure to perform, cone of whatever. The list goes on and on. We walk around uncomfortable in our own skin, constricted by all of the expectations that we put on ourselves as well as others. Our shoulders are so heavy with burden that we aren’t able to relax enough to allow the cone to do its job, heal. Why because we’re so damn worried about THE CONE! But what if we took the cone and flipped the script on it? What if our cone of shame was really meant to be a skirt? What if we’ve had it wrong the whole time? What if the healing really took place going from cone to skirt?
The cone of shame doesn’t give us the freedom to be who we were made to be; But, a skirt? A skirt means we can move freely. It means that all of the burdens, worries, pressures are no longer on our shoulders but on the shoulders of the one who has carried far greater burdens on His. Turning your cone of shame into a skirt is acknowledgment of grace. It’s understanding that we aren’t in control, we aren’t responsible for perfection and we’ll never be able to earn our salvation through our works, by carrying our burdens or by living a life constricted to the expectations given to us by ourselves or others.
So take your cone of shame, guilt, pressure, expectation and anything else and turn it into a skirt (or kilt for you gents) and realize that you are free from living life that way any longer. Accept the gift of unfailing love and acceptance that pursues you always.
