Mirror Image

         I wake up to another day, with a lack of enthusiasm for having to face it.  It’s in my sleep that I find my only peace.  The day brings only fear and uncertainty in who and what I am.  I must face the start of a new day in spite of myself.  I drag myself out of bed and down the hall to the bathroom where I will face myself for the first time today.  I stand before the mirror gazing into it with resentment for its ability to reflect who you are right before your eyes.  When I was very young mirrors had very little impact on me.  But as time passed and I have gotten old, mirrors seem to be everywhere I turn.  They seem to be waiting to magnify all the flaws that I see in my face.  I try to avoid them but as try as I might they have a way of drawing me in, and this morning is no exception.

          I stand for a long time gazing at my reflection taking in the many outward features that make up my face.  Hair that is too short and way too straight, eyes that are too big and too brown looking like over baked chocolate chip cookies, cheeks that are too fat and a chin that is too small I don’t like any of it at all.  Wow, is this how others see me?  Are these the things they focus on?  Do they get so caught up in the outside features that they fail to look to the inside to who I really am?  What do I expect?  I do the very same thing day after day.  I am so focused on my outward reflection that I have lost sight of the things that make up who and what I really am on the inside.  Like my talent in art and music, I am trustworthy and loyal to my family and friends.  I try to reflect the strong moral character of a godly person, kind to others, honest, and true. 

          Do they see the pain, and insecurities of how I think I look that keep me from really living and enjoying life the way I should?  Do they realize that the smile on my face and the flippant way I handle everyday living is just a cover to hide the many fears and inadequacies of how others may perceive me that plague me everyday?  Does it even matter what they see, or is it more important that this is all I see when I look at me?

Shouldn’t I be the one who really sees and understands me?  How have I become so lost, where and how do I find the real me?

          As I stand gazing at the distorted image I have created of myself, I find myself in desperate need of an answer.  And in desperation I cry out, “God what did you have in mind when you created me?”  Standing there in the suffocating silence, eye to eye with my reflection it was as if my mind was open up for the first time and I heard the answer loud and clear.

          The scripture Genesis 1:26 And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  This scripture ran through my mind and I knew that it was the ultimate answer to who I was meant to be.  It isn’t about the outside features that make up who I am but the inside characteristics that make up the true me. 

          At that moment my reflection took a whole new meaning, instead of focusing on the outside features as multiple flaws in what makes me who I am.  I could see that I was made as a special individual not to be compared to other people but to mirror the creator’s character.  He made the outside features to be a special gift to me, and I am to use the character features from within to be a special gift to Him.  In realizing this I finally realized how special I really was, God has only made one of me and in realizing how important my individual features must have been to Him they have taken on a new meaning for me.

          As I look at my mirror image now, I see so much more then I did before, I see laughing brown eye’s, a bright smile, and a face that radiates joy and individuality.  It’s so much easier to accept who I am when I see myself the way God does, Special. 

          Accepting who you are as the gift that was made just for you will give you the ability to live with joy in the skin you’re in.  Take a look at your mirror image and focus on the wonderful gift of individuality that God has given you, and remember we are all made in His image.  I hope that your mirror image will take on a whole new meaning for you as mine has for me.