When I was leading a youth ministry group several years ago, I often talked to the teenagers about masks. Not literal masks, but rather more like identities.
If they would be going out with their friends, they’d put on one mask, but around their parents, they put on a different mask. Some had so many masks/identities, they would get overwhelmed trying to keep it all together.
My challenge to them was to be real. Be authentic. Not just some of the time, but all the time. Wearing masks and presenting ourselves differently all the time only leads to problems. But it’s not just teens who are guilty of this kind of behavior.