Inconvenient Mirrors

We've all been accosted by them--those reflective ninjas of glass. They surprise us in the early morning with bed head and pillow case wrinkles. They stalk us in the department stores with 15ft pillars that compare us to nimble mannequins...and when we're our most vulnerable, in the dressing room with their dreaded three-sided assault.

The one that I hate the most is that forgotten mirror hanging in a dark room. It is stealthy like the closet bogeyman. I think I see movement, flick on the light and invariably scare myself.

I have found another type of mirror, a spiritual one that God uses on me when I least expect it: difficult people. I try to avoid them most of the time like that 3-sided dressing room mirror.

They say you always notice your flaws in a mirror, maybe that's why we don't like difficult people. They reflect a part of us we'd rather not like to admit we have. Can you pull a sweater over puffed up pride? Can you retouch a snide remark with a dash of powder? Yes, what they do bothers us...but don't we do the same things around other people?

I have discovered that I can either try and cover up that part of me God wants to work on, or I can gaze intently at that flaw and say to myself, "Honey, that's gotta go!"

We are made in the image of God. We are tarnished, foggy and yes our frames are a bit wonky...we are in need of His polish so we can see Him better in our life instead of our own spiritual bed head!

It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. Luke 6:42 (MSG)