sweetmilkandsunshine

::: mirrors and other reflections :::
When I was a little girl, I had a big, beautiful, full-length, three way mirror.  It was framed with distressed pale yellow wood and was my favorite part of my bedroom.  The two mirrors flanking the tallest middle one were on hinges, so I could adjust them to capture myself from any angle.  When I was very small, I used to sit in front of it, enveloped on each side by the reflection of my profile, and practice emotions.  I counted my teeth, perfected my silly smile, and read books aloud to myself, rehearsing animated expressions and made-up accents.  It was through that mirror that I learned that my hazel eyes turned bright green when I cried. My time spent with my beloved mirror taught me a lot about how other people saw me. And it helped me look more deeply inside myself.  I watched myself grow up in it's reflective glass.

When I was about 9, I made a mistake.  I took nail polish into the carpeted family room, even though I knew I wasn't supposed to. I sat on the floor, with my new Cabbage Patch Doll, Sharon, on my lap, and carefully painted my fingernails.  Within minutes, the inevitable happened.  I spilled the polish.  Not much got on the carpet, but Sharon's pretty purple dress was covered in bright pink paint.  

I panicked.  

I stripped the dress from the doll, ran to my room, and threw it behind my beautiful mirror.

I never told anyone.

But for years, every time I looked into that mirror, I thought about what was on the other side.  I knew what I was hiding.  And it plagued me. The reflection was the same, but now there was more behind it.

Lately, as I go deeper into the Word, it becomes more and more like my favorite mirror.  Beautifully crafted, larger than life, allowing me to examine my heart from every angle.  When I stand before it, I see both an image of the good that God has put into me, and a reflection of what lies beneath the surface.  And it compels me to confession and change.  To take my soiled human heart, like that soiled purple dress, and present it before my holy God. And when I do, His unbreakable, eternal Love and forgiveness reflects back to me.

My children, you will make many mistakes and experience countless hurts in this life. They won't define you, but they have the potential to change how you see yourself. 

Don't hide from them.  Face them.  Confess them.  Accept them. Learn from them.  Embrace the ways they reshape your character.

I pray that you grow up in the loving rebuke and resulting grace of your Creator.  

And that your life, through all its changes and mistakes, will ultimately reflect His glory.