When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see God’s glory?
2 Corinthians says: And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Do You See Glory or Flaws in the Mirror?
In my teens and early twenties, I constantly judged my appearance. I compared myself to all the models in the magazines. They didn’t have red hair and freckles… those ugly freckles!
When I was 23, I got a vicious case of the chickenpox. Red blisters covered my entire face. I slathered my face with calamine lotion to sooth the itching. Looking in the mirror, I was quite a sight!
With immense gratitude, I knew the chickenpox would eventually go away, and I vowed to never look in the mirror and call myself ugly again.
When I look in the mirror now, I see the lines and wrinkles on my face. They are the souvenirs of joys and sorrows, the wear and tear caused by traveling on life’s road. But I’ve learned the great spiritual practice of acceptance.
Every few years I update photos for my website and social media. For the first time, I didn’t have the photos touched up. If I meet someone in person, I don’t want to scare them with my real-life, unfiltered version!
But how many times do we look in the mirror and say, “I see the Lord’s image looking back at me?”
What Society Causes Us to See
Former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst talked about how difficult it was with the thought of aging. Along with her beauty, she was a former Division 1 Athlete, an attorney who fought for social justice, and a television correspondent.
In an article that ran in Allure Magazine, March of 2021, she said: “Each time I say, ‘I’m turning 30,’ I cringe a little. Sometimes I can successfully mask this uncomfortable response with excitement; other times, my enthusiasm feels hollow, like bad acting.
Society has never been kind to those growing old, especially women. (Occasion exceptions are made for some of the rich and a few of the famous.)”
On January 30, 2022, Cheslie Kryst committed suicide, jumping from her 60th floor apartment.
I don’t know if Cheslie had any type of faith. But she couldn’t see past the image in the mirror that was aging.
What God Wants Us to See
The verse prior to this one says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
We are free from the slings and arrows that people throw at us. We are free from our own self-imposed judgments. That’s because we don’t live by society’s standards. We live by a Higher standard.
We are transformed into God’s image day by day. God wants us to see that image.
The next time you look in the mirror, what will you see?
If you enjoyed this post, I send a weekly email each Monday morning to encourage and inspire you along with a Scripture verse to help you live what I call the guided life, and life guided by God and to live that life with joy and flow. I love hearing from my readers, so I hope I’ll be hearing insights from you!
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