Poker Face

There’s a scene I watched tonight from my new favorite show Young Sheldon that completely shook me... Not because it was dramatic. Not because it was sad. But because it was true.

Sheldon was sitting with his grandmother-his Meemaw-as she was teaching him how to play poker. He looked at his cards, smiled, and she suddenly held up a mirror to his face.

“What do you see?” she asked.

“What does your face show when you look at your cards?”

He looked and said, “I’m happy.”

She said, “That means you like your cards, right?”

He nodded. “Yes, I have a good hand.”

Then she said, “Okay… now look at me. What does my face say?”

And with all the blunt innocence of a child, he said:

“That you're old.”

LOL.

She paused, then smirked and said, “You’re lucky I love you.”

But then she shifted her expression just slightly .... enough for him to pick up on it.

He looked again and said, “You’re unhappy. You don’t like your cards.”

She confirmed it: “That’s right.”

So imagine his shock when she ended up winning the round.

He looked at her, stunned. “I thought you didn’t like your cards!”

She said, “Exactly. That’s the point.”

He said, “You lied!”

She replied, “No. It’s called bluffing.”

And then came the line that hit me in the gut:

> “Sheldon… sometimes what’s on someone’s face doesn’t match what’s inside.”

He looked at her and asked the only question that felt right:

“Then how am I supposed to know who to trust?”

And her answer?

“You don’t.”

Whew.

That scene has been sitting heavy on my heart ever since.

Because it’s true.

We live in a world full of poker faces.

Smiling while dying inside.

Saying “I’m good” while falling apart.

Pretending not to care when we’re desperate to be chosen.

Laughing to avoid crying.

I’ve done it.

You’ve done it.

We all have.

And it makes you ask...

If you can’t always trust someone’s face, their tone, their words… then what can you trust?

Sometimes, it feels like everyone’s bluffing.

And the truth is .... we’re bluffing because we’re afraid.

Afraid of being too much.

Afraid of being rejected.

Afraid of being real in a room full of people who only know how to be polite.

But bluffing isn’t bravery.

It’s self-protection.

It’s a wall.

And it doesn’t lead to connection ... it leads to confusion, isolation, and mistrust.

I don’t want to bluff my way through life.

I don’t want a poker face.

I want to be real.

Even if it’s awkward.

Even if it’s messy.

Even if I lose the hand.

Because maybe realness isn’t the safest play…

but it’s the only one that leads to love.

---

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”1 Samuel 16:7

Kristen, Unfiltered Xo 💋