I have never been a big fan of mirrors

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

I have never been a big fan of mirrors, and quite frankly I don't think mirrors have been a big fan of me! Mirrors have never placed me in a good light. When I look into a mirror one of two things usually happen.

1. The mirror looks somewhere else.
2. The mirror exposes all of my flaws.

It is hard to have a big ego when you have a mirror in your house. Just when you start thinking you are all that and a bag of chips, you look in the mirror and see yourself and say, "Who am I kidding. I am no better than anyone else." 

Now let's get one thing straight. I am not talking about:

•  "Bad body image", which I must be quite fond of having since I live in that world everyday and do nothing about it. And in not doing anything about it, I am not saying I just need to work harder in the weight-room. I am saying, getting that tape out of my head that the enemy keeps playing saying, "you are ugly, unlovable, unwanted...Many of you know that tape. 
• "Low self-worth", Another tape that can play if I am not careful. 

What the mirror is good at reminding me of is the fact that I am not perfect. Just when I start thinking I am better than someone else and start to get "Judgy," the mirror reminds that God has forgiven me, so I need to forgive others. God has accepted me, so I need to accept others. Oscar Romero of El Salvador said it best when he said:

How easy it is to denounce structural injustice, institutionalized violence, social sin. And it is true, this sin is everywhere, but where are the roots of social sin? In the heart of every human being. Present-day society is a sort of anonymous world in which no one is willing to admit guilt and everyone is responsible.

Because of this, salvation begins with the human person, with human dignity, with saving every person from sin. Individually there are among us here no two sinners alike. Each one has committed his or her own shameful deeds, and yet we want to cast our guilt on the other and hide our own sin. I must take off my mask; I, too, am one of them, and I need to beg God’s pardon because I have offended God and society. This is the call of Christ.

How beautiful the expression of that woman upon finding herself pardoned and understood: ‘No one, Sir. No one has condemned me.’ Then neither do I, I who could give that truly condemning word, neither do I condemn; but be careful, brothers and sisters, since God has forgiven us so many times, let us take advantage of that friendship with the Lord which we have recovered and let us live it with gratitude.

Oscar Romero of El Salvador[1]

The mirror reminds that when the Bible says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." that includes me. So often I can catch myself reading or hearing things that I want to apply to everyone else but not me. But my mirror won't allow me to do that. 

So often I see or hear something and want to get all "Judgy" about it, and the mirror says, "Do not judge so that you may not be judged." 

My mirror can really get my goat! Actually, my mirror says these things in a very loving way. it is me that acts like a spoiled kid throwing a fit when I am reminded. 

It is almost like God is talking to me and I am just being a brat. Hmm.......

I am reminded of an old song, sang in the church back in the days of florist Friers (another story I will have to tell one day), it went like this:

Old MacDonald had a sin E-I-E-I-O

Here a sin

There a sin

Everywhere a sin, sin

Old MacDonald had a sin E-I-E-I-O

With a sin, sin here

And a sin, sin, there

Here a sin,

There a sin,

Everywhere a sin, sin

Old Macdonald had a sin, E-I-E-I-O

Actually, they didn't sing it; the song just popped into my head as I was talking with you about grace and "judgyness". 

I will try to take my mirrors observations more seriously, and not get so emotional when I see something that I need to work on.

Am I the only one with a mirror that talks to me, or do others have one too?

Something to ponder.

Blessings,

Roger

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[1]Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer, (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishing Company, 2002), 329-30.