You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. [Psalm 139:13-14 (TLB)]
We women tend to consider the mirror a critic, and a ruthless one at that. I don’t know about men but I suspect you fellows may not be all that different. When we look in a mirror, the message we perceive is often disparaging and fault-finding: tired looking, “bed head,” too fat, too old, or too saggy. Then the mirror starts in our apparel telling us things are too tight, too loose, out of style, too young, too old, too wrinkled, or just plain ugly! Most of us don’t hear our mirrors affirming that we are marvelously made.
In a women’s magazine, I once read the suggestion that we stop whenever we pass a mirror, give ourselves a good hard look, and then think of something nice to say about our reflection. Admittedly, some days that’s a bit of a struggle; nonetheless, I think it is a good idea. If we can’t accept ourselves, with all of our flaws and imperfections, how can we accept the flaws and imperfections of others? If we can’t love ourselves with our faults and blemishes, how can we love our neighbors? Yet we are told to love our neighbors as we love ourselves! Loving and accepting our neighbors has to begin with loving and accepting ourselves.
On the television show “Saturday Night Live,” Billy Crystal used to play a character who would say, “You look marvelous, darling! Absolutely marvelous!” That’s what we need to hear our mirrors say to us! Of course, no matter what I tell the mirror, I will still have the grey hair, wrinkles, and age spots that come with my age and the hopelessly straight hair, freckles, and short legs that are a result of my genetic make-up. But, I will know that I am a splendid creation. I will be reminded that God created me in His own image. God doesn’t make trash! I am a miracle. God loves me, His creation, just as I am, flaws and all. I am, indeed, most marvelously made and most fully loved by my creator.
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? When God looks at you, what does he see?
I realize I have only so much say in what I look like on the outside. The age thing is the fate of all humanity. But I do have a say on the inner me. I can choose to grow bitter or better. I choose better. I choose life. [From “Hot Flashes and Cold Cream” by Diann Hunt]
“You look marvelous!” [The way we greet one another Sunday mornings at my Florida church]
I recently made up the guest list for my mother-in-law’s 100th birthday party. Shortly before the party, I will determine the seating arrangements and decide who gets to sit with the birthday girl and who gets to sit with the various youngsters. Without place cards, everyone will want to sit with the guest of honor and no one will be anxious to sit with the toddlers or near the kitchen.
Last week, I sat down to write in my gratitude journal and couldn’t believe my eyes. I hadn’t written in it for seven days. “I write in it every day!” I protested. Surely there was a mistake—pages must be missing. It wasn’t and they weren’t—the mistake was mine and it wasn’t pages that were missing; it was gratitude! It had been a week jam-packed with family, errands, chores, and writing—a week of “same old, same old,” just at a faster pace than usual. That, however, was no excuse for a heart oblivious to the blessings of seven ordinary days. Surely, within each one of those unexceptional but busy days there had been something for which I could thank God. Although I always offer thanks in my daily prayers, that journal has been a way of making me mindful of God’s specific blessings of each day—a way of making me see His hand in a life of the “same old, same old.”
I watched the snowy egret at the beach and couldn’t quite decide if he was an exceptionally smart bird, just plain lazy, or a little of both. Egrets are excellent fishermen and will wade in the shallows stirring up the water with their feet to flush out delicacies like fish, frogs, and crayfish. Other times, they exhibit great patience as they stand nearly immobile for several minutes just waiting for their prey to come near enough for them to strike and catch dinner.
Like many, I mistook the phrase, “just deserts” for “just desserts.” The phrase comes from a now obsolete meaning of the word “desert” which was something deserved or merited. However we spell or say it, we tend to take a certain amount of pleasure when our enemies, adversaries, and those people who manage to make our lives difficult or downright miserable get what they deserve. “Poetic justice,” we say while watching them reap the consequences of their actions. Bad attitudes, excess drama, inappropriate behavior, substandard performance, selfishness, pettiness, laziness and insubordination all have a way of catching up with people. It’s hard to have any sympathy for them when they end up in a world of hurt of their own making. Jesus doesn’t tell us we have to be sympathetic but He does say we have to love and pray for them! We don’t have to allow their poison to seep into our lives, make excuses for them, enable them, tolerate horrible behavior, or become embroiled in their drama, but we do have to love and pray!
Devotions of the Heart 