Mirror

I looked at myself in the mirror and I was aghast to see that I had become heavier, wider and stouter since I woke up that morning. Hmm... I turned sideways and I can see that my belly seemed to be bulging more than it used to and, wow! my behind... it was sagging down to my knees. (Maybe an exaggeration, but really, it looked like it was really hanging that loose!) So I sucked in my belly and stood straighter but it wasn't helping my image in the mirror a bit.
I made a note to myself to climb up three more stairs at the subway station every morning in addition to the usual number of stairs that I climb. Maybe, even climb up Namsan Tower come Sunday.

Later, I happened to look at another mirror.  I noticed that there was nothing amiss. I looked normal. I looked like my own pretty self, especially when I smile. :D What happened? I don't think that I had changed in a 'twinkle of an eye' or in just a matter of a few minutes. Something must be going on here.

Later in the evening, as my friend was getting ready to go out and was fixing herself in front of the first mirror, she made a comment, saying something negative about herself, particularly, her appearance. Something clicked in my mind. It doesn't take rocket science to conclude, based on my observations, that the first mirror reflects a distorted image and is telling a whopping lie to those who look at it. And anybody looking at it would wish that she looks better, slimmer, prettier.

Ah, how so like the many mirrors that the world offers. There's the fashion and beauty mirror which tells us, mostly girls and even grown women, that we are not thin enough, fashionable enough, not having the right size of eyes, nose, lips, breasts, butt; having too many wrinkles, laugh lines, panty lines, stretch marks, scars, facial hair; and that there is something wrong with us and that, we should DO SOMETHING about it! These images are doled out to us in fashion and beauty magazines, TV shows, movies, and by  celebrities that tell us we should  look like them. We feel that most unenviable feeling, the feeling of discontentment. When we look at this mirror, we see ourselves as unlovable, flawed and, my, in need of some drastic move, like a mission of mercy or a surgery. Oh, how we fall so easily into the trap of this mirror.

Then there's the mirror of keeping up with Kardashians, or for the most part, with our neighbors, friends, coworkers or even that stranger at the subway. When we look at them, we see a reflection that says, "My, I'm such a loser! I don't even have last year's gadget. My child doesn't even have that toy that everyone has in his class and my daughter has to make do with hand-me-downs. We haven't gone to Europe for a vacation, or any vacation at all that has to do with flying on an airplane, and we are stuck here in this rut of a house. It doesn't even have a veranda." So we work ourselves to death, not even getting to enjoy the things that we have. Such distortion!

How about the mirror that tells you that you are not good enough, or smart enough, or slick enough? Oh, yeah. This mirror tells us that we are too sincere, too honest, too compassionate, too giving, too innocent, too forgiving, too gentle, too humble. That maybe, in order to succeed in this world, much less survive, we need to be a little rude, tougher, a little sly-er, more selfish, a little dishonest, and less considerate. This mirror tells us that we can be on the top of the world by simply disregarding the weak within ourselves, and among us.

However, if you are tired of looking at these mirrors, disillusioned, and weary of being who you are not, then there is another mirror worth looking at. God's mirror tells us that we are beautiful. I am beautiful. You are beautiful. God CREATED us in His image and everything that He has made is GOOD (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 139:14). His mirror tells us that we are LOVED just the way we are and His love never fails. Psalm 52:8, "I can count on His love forever and ever." Even if our earthly beauty fades away, we are loved. He came to earth, gave up His life for us that we might be SAVED. That's how precious we are to Him.

There is nothing more valuable than a person saved by His grace, nothing more beautiful than a character made new by our Savior, and nothing more satisfying than a life lived out in His will. 

We have a choice. We can choose to stop looking at the bogus images of this world's mirror and reflect on the beauty of Jesus. He has promised that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him, even if it's only a dim reflection of Him. But time will come when we will see Him face to face. "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." 1 Corinthians 13:12

Mirror, mirror on the wall... just shut up! I AM BEAUTIFUL!