This week, I had two air conditioners replaced. One in my living room was dead in the water and the other, in my bedroom was gasping for air. When the repairman pulled out the bedroom unit, he was met with a little surprise. (Click here to listen to this message.)

Tucked away in the corner was a small hornet’s nest. He called me in. Initially, all I saw was the nest. So, I got my broom to sweep it out. Yet, as I began to sweep, good grief! At least a dozen hornets were buzzing around the nest.

Not having any hornet spray, I grabbed the first bottle I saw in my hall closet – Lysol bathroom cleaner. (I figured if it didn’t kill them, at least they would be disinfected!) To say that the repairman and I squirted nearly the entire contents of that bottle on the nest would be an understatement.

After a few minutes of drowning them, one by one, they collapsed. He scooped up the mess into a garbage bag, which I promptly discarded. Who knew that underneath my barely working air conditioner, was the potential for great harm had those hornets made their way out of the unit.

As I contemplated this, here’s what the Lord put on my heart:

“You never know what people are going through so be kind to them.”

Recently, I have learned of many people who have been walking around with smiles on their faces but are secretly fighting battles I was unaware of. They have been so good at hiding their pain that you presumed their lives were perfect.

Yet, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Everyone has a hornet’s nest they are hiding.

I’m not suggesting we go around with a crying towel 24/7, but maybe we don’t have to present our lives as being so perfect. Social media has done a great job of this as people post about their “perfect lives, perfect kids, perfect vacation, etc.”

It makes many people not appreciate the blessings they have. Maybe it is time for us to just be real. 

Again, I don’t advocate the sharing of intricate details of our lives online. Perhaps we find a trusted friend, take off the mask and honestly share what’s really going on beneath the surface, that is, talk about the hornets that we’ve been hiding.

And if those people don’t exist, then you have an even better person to talk to – Jesus! He knows about the hornets anyway, so He won’t be surprised.

He walked the earth, so He is acquainted with our sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). He had friends deny they even knew Him (John 18:15-27); friends betray Him (Matthew 26:14-16); experienced physical pain on the cross (John 19:31-42); had people talk about Him behind His back (Luke 5:30); and He had people accuse Him of wrongdoing when He was innocent (John 9:16). 

There’s nothing we are going through that Jesus can’t relate to. You might say – “Well, Jennifer, He’s God. It was easy for Him.” To that let me say that while He was here, Jesus was a man, flesh and blood.

• When they put nails in His hands and feet, He bled.
• When they whipped Him thirty-nine times, His skin ripped open.
• When His friends walked away when He needed them the most, His heart broke. 

Yeah, Jesus knew pain. Yet Jesus also knew how to handle that pain. He spent time with His Father. He shared His “hornets” with Him when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane asking His Father to “take this cup from me” (Luke 22:42).

We can do the same thing. We can share our real lives with Jesus; not the white-washed, social media perfect life we want others to see, but the ugly, hornet-filled life that we need His help with.

And guess what? Not only will He be there to listen. Not only will He be there to walk alongside us as we battle the hornets. He’ll protect us so we never get stung.