Shatter Your Mirrors – Part 2

I bet you have one.  No…more than one.  O.k. truth be told, you probably have two, or three, or more.

You know, those things dangling from your walls, sitting above your hope chest, the thing you look at every time you enter the bathroom, or bedroom, or slip into the drivers seat?  A mirror.

In America, it seems we can’t quite escape from them.  Storefronts reflect back on you, visors in our cars pull down revealing a lighted mirror staring you in the face.  Make-up cases, centers of picture frames.  Wherever you look, it seems;  A mirror.

My nineteen-year-old came back from a six-month missions trip that included, New Zealand.  She slept in thirteen different locations in six short months.  One thing she told me upon her return was, “Mom, the homes in New Zealand are so different.  In most of the houses we stayed in, they only had one mirror”.

Only one mirror? Wow! What does that say about us?  Still, I must admit my response…I was horrified.

And there is no condemnation in Christ, but nowhere in the Bible does it advise us to fix our eyes on outward appearances.  Yes, scripture says….reflect on your soul, take care of your heart, keep your conscious clear….but scripture never advises us to abscess about appearances.

And I wonder if what we reflect, we become more full of?

They flaunt their perfect parenting, show imagines of flawless homes, talk for hours about how they are doing, just. so. good. in every area of their life.  And we sit back, shrink low, start to let darts fly, thoughts of inadequacy and insecurity poison our purposefully Christ-like, determined souls.

And apart of from the glass images we decorate our houses with, I wonder if social media, like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, can also, subconsciously act like mirrors too?

Do we hold people and their storefront lives high up in front of us?  Then look back, question, doubt, and evaluate how good we are or are not compared to those we scroll past on our phones?

And although the reflection of our own selves can grow us or deflate us in ways words alone cannot…

I wonder if our plastic presentations can actually demolish our Christ-like image?  Do we spend our time comparing ourselves to other people, instead of digging into what Scripture says about how we reflect our Maker?

Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth…”

And yet, mirrors sometimes attack us.  All around, screaming and shouting at us; be thinner, stronger, richer, prettier, simpler, smarter, more decorative, better parents.

And on and on it goes.  What we look at can be like mirrors sending messages to our souls.

I read the story of Jacob and his two wives, Leah and Rachel. About how God favored the hated one and opened her womb, and then how back and forth they used their maidservants, and pregnancies to taunting each other.  Jacob was used almost like a  pawn, to fuel their anger and jealousy, trying to compare and outrank each other.  (Genesis 29-30)

But, scripture tells us, “Take care and be on guard against all covetousness.  Ones life does not consist in the abundance of ones possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

Still, our mirrors in life can unknowingly mock us, condemn, and judge us.  The world (even our Christian’s hubs) can trick us into thinking we are never enough.

But friends, I am here to tell you…that is a lie. Our worth is not determined by what we look like or how much we are wanted!

This is not Snow White, and we are not the Step Mother looking for a reflection to tell us we are the most beautiful in the land.  We are more than fading flesh, more than representations reflecting some plastic image of man.

Our identity is not in who accepts us, but that we were hand-picked, chosen, and loved by God first.

We are His specifically called, uniquely made, one of kind creations.  And if He says we are beautiful, then we are…regardless of what our mirrors tel us!   Won’t we let that be enough?

**   I hope you will keep reading, either Tuesday’s, but mostly on Fridays for more on this rally to, “Shatter Your Mirrors”!

The challenge for this week?  Get ready!  It’s easy!

1. Go through your house and in your automobile and count how many physical mirrors you have in your surroundings.
2. Now, stop for a moment and consider the media or all other external outlets you use to measure, evaluate, consider, or even subconsciously rank yourself by.  (t.v. billboards, Facebook, people’s opinions etc)
3. Lastly, add the first number to the second number and consider the influence each one might have on you!

Got a total?  Great work! Now, feel free to write your answer in the comments, or pray to God about how might look at yourself and your world different from now on!

And remember, we are more than any outward appearances!  Scripture tells us, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart!”  

So, together, let’s stop obsessing about outward appearances, and work on the condition of our hearts!  Amen?

(Linking with Weekend Brew)