On this day in 1809, wearing masks at balls was forbidden in Boston.

Yesterday it was a woman wearing pants in public, and today it’s wearing masks at balls. What’s the deal with Boston and weird laws?

Wearing masks is popular at Halloween, Mardi Gras, and costume parties. Hiding behind a mask and pretending to be someone else or just clowning around can be fun. You could wear a mask and pretend to be George Bush, Mickey Mouse, Little Orphan Annie, a gorilla, Spiderman, Oprah, Hillary Duff, Aslan, LeBron James, or some other person or character.

People wear masks in other ways, even without putting anything over their faces. They pretend to be a different kind of person by acting a certain way or by trying to look the part. They might try being funny or tough or cool because they want to be friends with a certain group. Some people just don’t like the way they are; they want to be more outgoing or better looking. Others are trying hard to be popular. That’s why some intelligent kids pretend to be dumb. Have you ever known anyone who did that?

Maybe you’ve worn a mask. Probably you discovered that we may fool ourselves and others for a while, but we never fool God.

God knows you, the real you, and everything about you. He sees through and behind your masks. Not only that, he loves you the way you are. So it makes no sense to try to hide from him or to trick him.

Drop the mask and be honest with God. Be yourself with others too.

O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you (Psalm 69:5).

To Do

For fun, play a little game with your family at dinnertime. Explain that when you say an emotion or an attitude, each person ought to make a face that expresses it. You could say, “sad,” “cool,” “horrified,” “tough,” “shy,” “in love,” “spiritual,” and so forth. Then you could explain today’s devotion to them.

Also on this day

This is Universal Human Rights Month.

1953—The first color TV sets went on sale for about $1,175 (that would be more than $8,330 today).

1973—We received the first picture of a comet from space.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.