Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it. (The Message)
I don't know if you have noticed but there seems to be a problem with most mirrors. When many people stand in front of a mirror they see themselves as the pudgy young teen with braces and acne who heard every day that they weren't beautiful or they see the young trim athlete who could do anything and everyone cheered their every move. What they see is what they used to be and not what they are today. The problem is that when we let the image in the mirror tell us who we are we are listening to a lie and it keeps us from allowing the reality of our lives from shinning through. The only cure for the lying mirror is the honest love of another. Love that tells us who they see everyday when they are with us. We can hear from them that we are a lovable person of great beauty and joy or even a self centered adult who needs to get over themselves.
We can try to see ourselves as we really are in a mirror but the truth is that a letter cannot read itself it must be read by someone else. But being read does not make a difference unless we are willing to accept the reality. Sometimes the reality is hard to accept because we know that we really are not who we would like to be at this point in our lives. The good news is that we are continually being written by the hand of God who has fearfully and wonderfully made us in His image.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- Knowing what you do about Paul's life how do you think others would have seen Jesus within him?
- When you look in a mirror who do you see?
- What lies from your childhood still impact the way you see yourself?
- Whose honest love do you need to listen to as you more fully accept who you are today?
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