I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways….
If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and then make the change.
Pedaling on a rusty bike along the dirt path that led to the bamboo coffee stand, I was struck by the truth of Michael Jackson’s words playing on repeat in my head.
The only person I can change is me.
We aren’t called to fix all the problems in the world. We aren’t called to right every injustice we see. We aren’t even called to fix the wrong in the person next to us.
We are only responsible for the person in the mirror.
The problem is that a lot of us are using distorted mirrors…
So much of my life I’ve been trying to figure out who I am.
Certain things I knew, but other things – things that really mattered about my identity, I wasn’t as sure of. I always wanted to be one of those people who just knew, in the core of their being they knew exactly who they were.
But I wasn’t like that.
When it came to my identity, I’ve often felt like I was standing in front of a warped, funhouse mirror – the kind that makes certain parts of your body look HUGE and other parts look long and slender. The mirror gives you an idea of what you look like, but it distorts and manipulates your true reflection.
I had an idea of who I was, but certain things wouldn’t line up. Certain things I was doing or certain things I’d say would feel distorted from how the Real Annie would act. But then, I wasn't sure what the Real Annie even looked like. My self image was tainted by a funhouse mirror of deceptions.
Well, I’m not sure when it happened, but somewhere near the beginning of the race God took the distorted mirror I was using and placed it far away and out of reach. Now every time I reach for a mirror, the only one He lets me see is this mystical, antique gold one. On the top of this mirror in lovely cursive reads Mirror of Truth. This mirror doesn’t reflect how my friends see me, nor my parents, sorority sisters, strangers off the street, nor even that horribly critical eye inside my head.
This mirror shows only what my Father in Heaven sees when He looks at me.
And honestly, it can be a little frightening to look into.
The image reflected back is so much brighter and lovelier than I thought possible. It’s the me that I used to dream of as a little girl, and who still peeks out in moments of greatness. It’s the me that I feel when I’m utterly wrapped up in worship, basking in the love of the Father. It’s the me that is untwisted, untainted, undistorted by the lies I believe about myself.
Every morning on my date with God, He urges me to take a good look in this mirror before I go out. It’s time for me to see myself the way that He sees me, to really believe it to be TRUE. And when I go about my day to remember it and “make a change”- to walk in the identity that He has given me.
See, the problem with a false self-view is that humans act out of what they know to be true about themselves. If we believe a lie to be true we will act as if it is. And the more that we act out of the lies, the more that image is reflected back to us through our actions and by the people around us. It becomes this self-inflicted cycle in which we are buried under the lies that the Enemy feeds to us.
But all the while the Truth remains.
No matter how long we have acted out of these lies, our true, radiant identity is still there. This identity was given to us as a gift and it can never be separated from us, not even by our own actions.
Just take a look in the Mirror of Truth and make the change.
