Mirror, Mirror
The bright morning sun peeks over the horizon on a beautiful Saturday. She pads with slippered feet into the kitchen and makes herself a fresh hot cup of coffee. As she settles into her favorite chair and opens up her bible, her mind relaxes into the familiar fellowship and communion she shares with her Savior.
Time passes.
She closes her bible, glances out the window and makes a decision.
Today is a good day to go shopping.
She decides to go to one of her favorite stores. Excitement bubbles inside of her as she walks up and down the isles, in and out of the clothes racks sifting through the cute dresses, colorful tops and trendy jeans. The bright colors catch her eye, new seasonal fashions are out on display and she is eager to try on several items that seemed to reach out and grab her. She picks out several and makes her way to the fitting room.
There’s a line.
She debates whether to wait or not. Is it worth it…are the clothes in her hand potentially show-stopping-cuteness-worthy? She decides, yes. She doesn’t have to wait long as the line moves quickly. The fitting room attendant takes her items and leads her to a room where she hangs them up, and with a smile says, “if there’s anything that doesn’t work out for you, just bring them back to us” and then leaves her to it.
It doesn’t take long.
Item after item. She can’t get them off fast enough. What only moments before were cute, perfect outfits, suddenly transform into unattractive frumpy ugliness on her. What she thought would look so fetching and adorable only accents bulging hips and thighs, overflowing muffin top and flatten an already flat chest. Tears begin to well up in her eyes as she hurriedly gets the clothes back on their hangers. Humiliation quickly turns into depression. Avoiding the mirror as much as possible, she quickly changes, grabs all the items and leaves without a word to the fitting room attendant.
No. The clothes didn’t work out.
She soon finds herself in the safety of the shoe department. Because that’s the only place she can try on anything and still feel good about herself.
But she doesn’t feel like shopping anymore.
So she walks around the store, avoiding anything with a reflective surface, trying hard to shake off the feelings of depression and inadequacy…but all she sees are all the other women, thinner than her, tanner than her, outfits cuter than hers, and who all look so comfortable in their own skin. And all she can think about is how tight her pants feel, how much food she’s eaten that day, and how badly she needs to start exercising more.
All this because she tried on a few items in a fitting room.
All this because of a mirror.
When she gets home, empty handed, a short time later she feels like she’s been in a battle.
And lost.
And now here she is, feeling defeated, inadequate, unattractive, hopeless, and crushed. When only just that morning, she was perfectly fine.
All because of a mirror.
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT)
I Corinthians 13:12
The enemy knows just where to shoot those arrows, and like ill-prepared soldiers we can succumb to the wounds. Sometimes it takes awhile to recover. But we must be reminded, often, of one thing. One thing I know to be true, my friend.
You are not what you see.
Sometimes we can get blinded. Blinded by our “old nature” that wants to take charge…again. The enemy wants us to stay in our cages and keep us trapped by what we feel instead of what we know. And that is how God sees us.
Do you, believer, know how He sees you?
You, beloved, are a dearly loved child of God! You are being transformed into His image. Transformed! You are a royal priesthood…holy! He rejoices over you with gladness. Rejoices, friend! God is for you, and you are more than a conqueror through Him. You are fully known by Him! His love and mercy for you never comes to an end! And He has plans for you dear one! Talk to Him. Amazing, wonderful plans.
Do you know how beautiful you are to Him?
He is crazy about you!
He knows you. He hears you.
He sees you.
He loves you beyond measure!
Perfectly.
We see things so imperfectly…through so many filters. May we wait with breathless expectation when we shall see Him face to face! Clearly.
No mirrors.
Dear Father. You know how I see myself…how much I hate my body sometimes. Help me to see me like you see me! Help me not to focus so much on the outside. Help me to focus on the inside. Because that’s where You are. Give me Your eyes so I can see things as they are supposed to be, and not how I wish they could be. Thank you for loving me just the way I am. Amen.
