Mirror Mirror and Other Myths

Mirror Mirror... and Other Myths

"For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" As a child I would cringe and snuggle deeper into my favorite blankie every time this scene from Snow White played out on our tiny 1980's TV screen, the wicked step-mother glaring and scowling as she consulted her magical mirror to be reassured that (somehow) she was still the most beautiful of them all... until one day, the Mirror informed her that Snow White, now grown and sweet, had taken her place at the top of the cake. Surely you remember THAT moment - yikes!

As I've grown up, I still cringe whenever I see an image of that mirror or that wicked step-mother, but I also wonder: What made that woman base her self worth on what a mirror had to say? Of course she and her mirror are total fiction, but.... well, aren't we tempted to do the same? To base our self worth on what we see, what others say, what our feelings tell us is true?

Over my lifetime, occasionally, there have been those who spoke into my life untruth. Though it is a rare thing, I have indeed been hated, betrayed, lied about, told I was less, unworthy, that my talents were imagined, my calling damaged, my education lacking, my beauty exaggerated, my decisions tremendously wrong, ... have you ever been there? Sometimes these ugly sentiments have come from others but much more often other people's words have only been seeds... the greatest hater is the voice inside me that grows from those seeds.

Let's call this inner voice... the Mirror. The Mirror comes from within - all the words people spoke into your life that hurt, that diminished you, .. that you didn't give over to Jesus.  When we keep those words, accept them into our lives, we start to see ourselves through them, and the Mirror of self-loathing speaks to us, telling ourselves that we truly are less, that we will never be (fill in the blank) and ultimately, the beautiful and amazing creature that God created, YOU, begins to wither away.

The Bible talks a bit about mirrors... and this week as I was reading what it had to say, I thought about that scary mirror scene, and hmmmmmm I saw a connection. Let's see what God's Word has to say:

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known."  I Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

 I love how the New Living Translation puts it... 

"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."

Can you feel that beautiful creature in you stirring as you read those precious Words? The awesome-factor lies in the parts of that verse that say "but THEN"... that Word "THEN" refers to the day when we will be with Christ - when we will talk to Him and see Him and we will see ourselves the way HE sees us, the way HE made us to be seen. 

The only way that we can overcome the tiny but hurtful words spoken over us by others and by the Mirror we have created within us, is to replace them with the mighty, amazing, and truthful WORD OF GOD, all of which we can find written down for us in The Bible. His Word spoken over us breaks the Mirror. It is not enough to pray - when we pray to God, we are telling Him our words, our thoughts - in doing this, we are often simply showing Him our Mirror... but when we read His Word, He speaks to us, and His words change us, reveal truth to us, remove any ugliness, bitterness, unforgiveness, and other harmful attitudes, freeing us to be who He made us to be.

This week, don't consult the Mirror, consult the Word of God.... and you will find that who you are is beautiful, amazing, gifted, loved and called.