Mirrors can deceive. Mirrors can mislead. Yet, mirrors always reflect. It is what they do. One may not like what one sees. One can deny what one sees. One can even try to look the other way. In every circumstance, the mirror will continue to do what it is meant to do – be a reflection.
I confess that I do not always like looking in the mirror. I still think of myself as twenty something, well maybe thirty something but not a day older. My kids are both twenty something. On one hand I have a grasp on reality. On the other, I am still in denial. Mirrors are truth vehicles that I try to ignore.
As I look around me, I wonder what certain individuals thought of as they looked in the mirror on the way out the door. Did they see the truth? Did they see someone beautiful and smart? Did they look and go, “wow!”
If one enjoys people watching, it is easy to ask questions and draw conclusions. Fashion comments fit the evidence. Observations have specifics that build the case for an accurate label. Judgments are made, fitting what one can see. It is hard to disagree when you can see the actions and behaviors that support the conclusion that “they care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off.” (Psalm 10.5)
My dilemma with this is that I know what I do not know. I know I am missing the details of the heart. I am clear that I do not understand the full context of her/his life. I am drawing my conclusions on what I know but not on what I could know. Even as I think about this, I realize that there is one person that I can potentially see clearly. I have the opportunity to look in the mirror knowing my heart and my story. It is the one opportunity I have to see someone completely through the eyes of God. I wonder what I will do with what I see.
