RECOGNIZING WHO YOU ARE

 Lately, when I look in the mirror, I am startled and wonder---"Who is that old lady?"  My mind still thinks I am young (say middle age), but my body is showing the ravages of time.  We are not created for our physical body to be eternal.  Mother Nature gets to win that battle (though many of us really try to turn back the hands of the clock through various man made remedies).  My question today is NOT about aging--instead it about recognizing who we are.

 Who do you allow to influence  how we think about ourselves?   I am fairly certain most of us allow The World to be our looking glass.  Count me--guilty!  We are bombarded with messages from so many Worldly sources and most of us cannot live up to what we are being told.  The truth of the matter is --even those who are being used as our examples of what to strive for have a little help in reflecting those high standards.    The physical bar has been set so much higher than we could ever jump.

We are told to be independent, successful, beautiful, talented, influential, outspoken, and, in the same breath, to be true to ourselves,  My head spins to even think about all these measures the world places on us.  Most of us have the inferiority complex which comes when we  allow the world's image of what to strive for to override---our true reflection.  Do you remember the evil queen asking the magic mirror in "Snow White" who was the fairest of them all?  Though she was certainly externally beautiful, the evil queen lacked the inner beauty and the magic mirror saw truth when the queen stood before it.  One of the wise things, Momma taught me from an early age was -

What if we all had a magic mirror which reflected what was on the inside?  Would our reflection be pleasing or scarred with ugliness from within?  I suspect most of us have a difficult time believing what God tells us about Who we are and instead believe the lies of the world.  

So the next time you look in the mirror, remember this ~

"Do not let your adorning be external-

the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry,

or the clothing that you wear-

but let your adorning be the 

hidden person of the heart

with the imperishable beauty of a 

gentle and quiet spirit,

which in God's sight is very precious."

I Peter 3:3-4