I am terrible at making cakes. I’m pretty good at baking cookies and pies, thanks to my mom and grandma teaching me. But no matter what I do, my cakes do not turn out. Several months ago, I saw a post from Southern Living for Hummingbird Cake and decided to try it. I carefully followed the recipe, waiting until the cake fully cooled before removing it from the pan. Layer one was perfect. I iced it up and got ready to place layer two on top—when the inevitable occurred. Layer two split in half. We’re not talking a small crack here, we’re talking full on broken in half. What did I do? Well, like any professional baker, I stuffed cream cheese frosting inside the crack, smooshed it together until it stuck, and covered the entire cake with a thick layer of additional frosting (LOL). The end result? Check out my picture! It looked beautiful, but it was only a matter of time before it fell apart!

If we’re honest here, most of us are that way. We cover up our cracks and flaws so no one knows sees the real us. We go through life this way, functioning just fine, until the pressure becomes too much. My cake looked fine on the outside, but as soon as we cut into it with a knife, the entire thing collapsed.

Cracks in the earth’s crust are called faults. Guess what happens when pressure mounts along a fault line? You guessed it—an earthquake occurs. You see, it’s the same in our lives. All the faults and fears we’ve stuffed suddenly explode under pressure, often leaving devastating destruction. Piece by piece, layer by layer, we crumble.

When hard times hit, stress and pressure expose what’s underneath the surface, revealing our true character.

What if we could prevent the earthquake in our own lives? What if we healed the cracks, rather than stuffing them further and further down? Healing brings peace. Peace that can’t be taken away. This Christmas season, let’s heal our wounds, and let love repair our pain. Let’s allow others to see who we truly are, inside and out.