The Wallflower Awakes Skit

For inspiration, listen to “Dear Younger Me” by Mercy Me

GM---Grandmother GD---Granddaughter Narrator

Introduction

Narrator: Ladies, today we will impart on a journey together. We will travel with two women, one older and one younger, to a place of regret for one and a place of joy for the other. The hearts of these two women are bound together by love, and always will be, but their lives have been very different. The younger woman is the granddaughter of the older, and has come along on this journey, because, well, she just loves adventures. The older woman is traveling back to the home where she grew up. She knows that it is finally time to put the old place on the market and close that chapter on her life.

As this story unfolds, we will stop periodically to reflect on a few things. As with all good stories, as with our lives, there are moments of struggle and moments of amazing delight. I’m sure you will be able to relate, because believe it or not, this might be your story also.

Scene 1 The Old House

GM: Well, here we are. Are you ready to get on with it, girl? Are you up for a challenge?

GD: Oh yes, I’m always ready for a challenge.

GM: Ha. That’s another thing that I love about you; you are always willing to help me out with all of my little projects. You are fearless, child. And another thing. . . your great attitude makes doing chores seem more like an adventure. Thank you for that. (Hugs child) I was not looking forward to this particular project.

GD: Oh, Grandma, (Sad look) did you really grow up in this house?

GM: Yes, I did, but it didn’t look anything like this back then. Right now, it looks more like the house in Wuthering Heights.

GD: You know, I was thinking the same thing. I read that book, and this house is just as dark and dreary. It kinda gives me the creeps. If you lived here when you were little, it must be v-e-r-y old.

GM: What? You silly. I’m not old! (Tickles child) Back when I lived here as a little girl, it was the prettiest house on the block. The house was always freshly painted, and we worked really hard to keep the yard just right. The grass was always green, and the flowers were amazing.

GD: Really? I love flowers! What kind of flowers did you have?

GM: Well, let me think… There were bushes of white gardenias over here and bushes of red camellias over there. Gardenias were my mom’s favorite. They smell heavenly. Over here, and all around the house we had pink and purple azaleas. In the spring they would grow up almost to the roof of our house. My dad had to keep them pruned so they wouldn’t get out of hand.

GD: Oh my, I think I can picture that. It must have been a beautiful place. You must have been s-o happy!

Narrator: Grandma made mental note of all the work that would have to be done on the outside of the house in order to get it ready to put on the market. The landscapers and the painters would have their work cut out for them. The old paint would have to be scraped off and removed, repairs would need to be made, and then a new, fresh coat of paint would need to be applied. The weeds would need to be pulled, and the trees and bushes would need to be pruned. All of this would need to be done before new grass and flowers could be planted. Grandma thought to herself…You can always make things look good on the outside, but it’s always a little harder to deal with the damage on the inside. Maybe the old place should just be torn down.

Scene 1 Discussion

It has been said that “Planet Earth comes at us, but God works in us.” We live in a fallen world, and we have to admit that at times in our lives we may have felt that we were broken beyond repair. One author has called us “cracked pots”, and this may imply to some of us, that we are of no value, but that is far from the truth. Our generation is guilty of being thankless to a God who loves us, in spite of ourselves. This may assault our egos, but God really doesn’t need us, but He wants us. Being needed implies servant-hood, and being wanted implies son-ship. In any truly loving relationship, we would rather be wanted. Otherwise, we might believe that people are kind to us only if it benefits them. Another problem that we have is that we tend to think that the grass is always greener in someone else’s yard. We compare ourselves with others who appear to have it all together, and therefore place impossible expectations on ourselves and other people. But yet we never quite measure up, even to our own standards, let alone someone else’s.

Think about some of those standards that we place on ourselves to be “all that,” not only with our physical appearance but our behavior as well. We’re a mess, girls. A little nip here and a little tuck there, a fresh coat of paint, and we put on our dazzling white smiles, and we’re good to go, right? We’ve pruned ourselves until we don’t even resemble ourselves anymore. We must be down right ashamed of ourselves. I wonder who started that nonsense. I’m sure it was Eve, right? Let’s blame her. I mean; she did start the whole shame game, didn’t she? Poor Eve, and poor us for believing that God is disgusted with us every time we fall short. Now he hates it for us when we sin, but he never stops loving us, and he never turns his back on us. But just as in the garden, our natural default setting for when anything goes wrong is to put on fig leaves, those aprons of shame, or we play the blame game. Ah…humans, you gotta’ love ‘em. We are so predictable, aren’t we?

You have to admit that fig leaves are kind of passé these days, and we might possibly get arrested if we actually wore them, but we have found all kinds of new ways to hide from a God who loves us, and we have found all kinds of new masks to wear. Now don’t say to yourself, “I would never do that”, because we all do it. Fess up now. We tell ourselves that we need to look a certain way or we need to do certain things to please God, or to please others, but truthfully, we are really trying to please ourselves. We desperately need to believe that we are okay and that we are right with God. But it is our faith that pleases God and nothing else. It’s Jesus plus nothing.

It says in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” The Bible says that if we are living like this we will “suffer so many things in vain.” It also says that we will be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” An interesting fact about the word “transformed” is that in the original language this was the same word used in the Transfiguration. Let me jog your memory on that; this is when Jesus met up with Elijah and Moses before the Crucifixion on a mountain and his glory was revealed. I’ll bet that if Peter, James and John were ever “wowed”, they were “wowed” that day. I heard someone say that it was if Jesus had turned inside-out. The glory of God that day broke out of his body and shined all around him for all to see. What’s so amazing is that due to God’s Grace we have that same resurrection power inside us. The bible says that we will be changed from glory to glory, and that at the moment of our salvation, we were made heaven-ready. We were made new, given His righteousness, and changed from sinner to saint in the blink of an eye. But yet we see our sin, it is ever before us, so instead of trusting in this gift of righteousness inside us to change us, we hide behind some mask and try on our own power to be “all that.”

In our story, Grandma knew so well what it was like to hide behind a mask of perfection---having to look and act like the perfect little angel. The stress of this along with constant words of condemnation and abuse had truly wounded her young heart. She saw herself as a victim, reliving and believing those negative words that were spoken over her from the very people she should have been able to trust. This type of thinking spoke death to her soul, causing her to startle easily and to lose all confidence in God and herself. She felt like a butterfly who was forever trapped in her cocoon desperately wanting to fly away and dance on the winds.

Scene 2 Wallpapered Walls

Narrator: Grandma approached the front door, inserted the key and pushed it open. She knew this was going to be hard, but she had no idea what awaited her behind that door. She was immediately attacked by a “way too familiar feeling” of fear and condemnation. The voices from the ghosts of her past that lurked in the walls of the old house unleashed a barrage of obscene accusations at her. And although she knew that these were arrows from the enemy intended to wound her heart, she could hardly breathe. She stopped in her tracks, fell to her knees and cried, “Jesus!” She then heard in her spirit the voice of her comforter saying, “Don’t be afraid; I am always with you. My Grace is sufficient for you. Just look up.” And when she did, she looked right into the beautiful, hazel eyes of her granddaughter. Her eyes were damp, full of love and emotion, revealing the merciful heart of her Jesus. As so she took her granddaughter’s hand, (stand up) and somehow, miraculously, the voices quieted, and she had the strength to take another step into the living room. Her granddaughter said . . .

GD: Grandma, you can do this. (Encouraging voice)

GM: You’re right, we can.

GD: (Tugging on GM’s arm) Grandma, show me where your room was.

GM: It was right at the end of the hall. Go on down there if you want to.

GD: (Hurries down the hall and begins to spin around in the bedroom. She is excited.) Oh… Grandma, this is awesome! Look at all the flowers on the wall! I have never seen anything so beautiful! And look, lucky you, you had mirrors on your closet doors; you had your own dance studio! (She sways in front of the mirror)

GM: This is called wallpaper, child, and I can’t believe that it’s still here. But it is so old, it is just peeling off the walls. It will have to come down.

GD: Oh, do you have to? It’s so sad. If this were my room, I would never tear this down. It’s so pretty; it makes me feel like I’m in an enchanted garden.

GM: That’s so sweet, but it only seems like that because today a beautiful princess, such as yourself, has walked into it.

GD: Oh Grandma, I’m not a princess.

GM: In my eyes you are a princess, and you are the fairest one of all.

Narrator: As the two women, one young and one old, looked at their reflections in the mirror, the young woman imagined for a moment that she really was a princess while the older woman couldn’t even see herself, because her image had faded into the wallpaper.

Scene 2 Discussion

So many women in our society have been wounded in unspeakable ways, but truthfully all of us have wounds. None of us live in a bubble. The funny thing about a wound is that it heals so much easier on the outside than it does on the inside, and as believers, we have become experts at putting bandages on our wounds and going on without ever truly healing. Praise God, we know someone who can lift our heads and flood our hearts with the healing power of his Grace.

God has given us an innate sense of self-preservation. He has also given us certain needs and desires, such as the need to be loved, and valued, and to be safe and truly happy. And when these needs go unmet or are abused, we become vulnerable and find inappropriate ways to just survive. In the psychology world, you might call these defensive mechanisms or coping skills, which can become an addiction or a lifestyle choice. This is a quote by Robert McGill in his book, Search for Significance, “If we base our worth solidly on the truths of God’s Word, then our behavior will often reflect His love, grace, and power. But if we base our worth on our abilities or the fickle approval of others, then our behavior will reflect the insecurity, fear, and anger that come from such instability.” That’s why we all need safe people in our lives. It has been said that we all need a Paul and a Barnabus in our lives, Paul as a mentor and someone who will challenge you to be all that God intended you to be and a Barnabus as an encourager and cheerleader.

Ask God to show you who are those people and remember that God’s Grace frees us from the shame of the past and from the fear of the future.

Women try to cope with their insecurities in different ways. They may try to hide, blame, act-out, withdraw, overeat, self-medicate, attack, or become wallflowers. They may even develop a posture that is difficult to mask. They may keep their head down and stoop their shoulders. They may feel exposed even around those who love them. They may feel like they are not valued and become invisible. They “Hide in the wallpaper.” This is how Grandma saw herself. This was an inaccurate view of who she truly is. God sees her as a princess, just like her granddaughter, and his opinion should be the only opinion that should matter to us.

Scene 3 Paper Dolls in the Closet

GD: Grandma, look there’s something in here. (She pulls out a box from the closet)

GM: Whatever do you mean? Everything was supposed to be cleaned out of the house. What’s in there?

GD: It’s some kind of a box, a pretty one.

GM: Oh, it is. What could be in here?

GD: Let’s look and see. (Pulls out scarves) Oh Grandma, look at these beautiful scarves! I wonder who they belonged to. (The granddaughter drapes herself with the beautiful scarves, creating a beautiful costume)

GM: Oh honey, I know who they belonged to; they were my mother’s. She loved beautiful things.

GD: (Twirling) How cool! There’s something else in here.

GM: What is it?

GD: (Pulls out some paper dolls from the box) What are these, Grandma?

GM: Oh my, I can’t believe it. These are my paper dolls.

GD: Did you make these yourself? They’re beautiful!

GM: Yes, I did, and I can’t believe that they are still here. Who would have kept these all these years? I used to play with these in my closet. They became my friends. I treated them like they were alive. I had them hanging all inside my closet.

GD: (Surprised) Why did you play in your closet?

GM: It was the only place that I felt safe, where I could really be myself.

GD: Why didn’t you just hang them up in your room?

GM: I wasn’t allowed to. I had to keep my room spotless. My artwork was not appreciated nor was I for that matter. Truthfully, there wasn’t much freedom in this house. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you these things, but I think you’re old enough to understand my story.

GD: Yeah, I really want to know, even if it is sad. I am thankful that you and Mommy let me hang my artwork anywhere I want to, and Daddy tells me all the time how proud he is of me.

GM: We are proud of you, but not just because you do great things, but because of who you are…wonderful in every way.

GD: Hey, there’s something else in here; it’s a note addressed to you, Grandma.

It says that it is from your grandmother.

GM: Oh my, please read it to me.

GD: Sure, it is a poem.

The title is, “I Saw You in The Shadows”

The contents in this box have a story to tell.

They have meant a lot to me and I hope, will to you as well.

I have seen you suffer for way too long, my dear.

Just know, it’s not your fault, let’s make that perfectly clear.

You’ve lived in the shadows, were hurt terribly, and even took the fall,

But I’ve learned that saints are not meant to live behind self-imposed, prison walls.

Sweet girl, take off those grave clothes and come out in the sun;

Your battle may not be over, but the war has been won.

What you may be feeling, all the shame and sadness for innocence lost

Can be finally put away- buried; it was finished at the Cross.

By Grace you were changed, restored, and made new.

Not marked, not damaged, not broken, a new creation; that’s you.

No longer defined a wallflower, not a doll made of paper that will crumble and fade;

You are dearly loved by the Father; you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

So sweet granddaughter, no longer cower in shame, lift your veil, take a chance.

Listen, hear him say, “Come away with me, come alive, and let’s dance.

Narrator: The closet was obviously a safe place for Grandma when she was younger. We don’t know why she felt that she needed to escape, but what do you think might be some of her reasons, and why are we prone to hide our stories from our loved ones? Afraid they won’t understand, Shame paralyzes us. Telling your story to a safe person may be the first step to healing.

How would you contrast the heart of the younger woman to the heart of the older? Unburdened/burdened, free/bound, brave/fearful The older woman needs to take off her grave clothes; she has been bound by the past for way too long.

Scene 4 The Wallflower Awakes

GD: Grandma, you must have been such a lonely child, but you don’t seem that way now. How come?

GM: Well, it’s because someone came along and changed everything. You see, I had a best friend.

GD: Wait, I know, I know! It was Jesus! Right?

GM: You got it! You’re so smart. Wherever I go, he goes, because he lives inside my heart. So that means he was right there in my closet when I was a little girl playing with my paper dolls, and he is with me even now. Because of his Grace, he constantly shines his light into dark places and makes hearts come alive.

GD: Grandma, may I dance for you right now?

GM: I would love that. (And as the younger woman danced, the older woman saw herself as she truly was, no longer trapped in a cocoon of fear and shame, but freed to fly and dance on the wind)

Just for fun, dance to “Your Love Awakens Me” by Phil Wickham