Mirror Images

People who know me know… I hate being on the lens side of a camera. I don’t know when the problem started, but for many years I have not been able to stand how I look in photos. I didn’t even know why, but today I figured it out. I got myself ready this morning and thought I looked unusually chipper for a change. Decided maybe I’d try to take a half-way acceptable profile picture in case I ever get brave enough to actually use one. Tried the phone, the camera… all of them had the same effect as usual. Just yuck. That’s not me!!! That’s not what I see in the mirror, and why isn’t it the same? I decided to experiment and take a picture of my mirror reflection instead and see if there was a difference. I felt ridiculous because that’s what 16 year old girls on social networking sites spend all day doing. But it worked!!! I was amazed to finally see a photograph that matched what I see in the mirror! I suppose that’s why all the “young people” (yep.. I’m old) use the mirror, right? I am a little slow to catch on.

With excitement I told my son of my discovery, who promptly deflated my elation. He explained how he’s heard we psychologically take the image we see in the mirror and think we look like 15 times better than we actually do. Really?! I asked him why my mind doesn’t do that with the photographs too. He didn’t know. For some reason, the 2D image of my face in the mirror is much kinder than the nuances the camera lens seems to find, especially as age brings sags, wrinkles, and is my nose really getting bigger? Sigh. But the question remains, “What do I actually look like???” Do people see what my mirror shows, or what my camera sees, or something completely different?

Suddenly I realized, I have no idea what I really look like, and I don’t have any way to know.

For over 20 years my husband has told me I am beautiful. He is so sweet but I never have figured out what HE sees. My view of things is never the same as his! But no matter how old I get, he still keeps telling me that. After a long time, he finally convinced me that he really means it; from his perspective it’s an absolute truth. From mine, it’s hard to understand.

What does that have to do with this blog? If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll explain. People say the Law was a character mirror, given to mankind to reveal our sinful and ugly nature.  Without getting into theological debates about the purpose of the Law, I will agree that it can have that affect on some people.  But we can also try to dress up, put on make-up, convince ourselves we are “all that” and maybe even fool ourselves when we look in the mirror.

Then we have our close friends and family who may see us differently and give us various perspectives, both good or bad, about what we look like on the inside. Sometimes they are unfairly critical, sometimes patronizing, or just needfully honest. I have always believed that our closest relationships are one of the most effective avenues the Holy Spirit uses to show us our helplessness and depravity without Him.

But looking at ourselves is so discouraging. All these mirrors, all this feedback we keep working to build up our defenses against. We may try to run away from what we see, cover it up, dress it up, or contemplate plastic surgery.

The the Bridegroom comes and says… “You are beautiful to me no matter what.” You can argue all you want, but His answer is always the same. “I love you and you are beautiful, precious, priceless.” We can’t see what He sees. But we can look at Him instead of ourselves, and choose to believe His words and His love toward us.  That truly changes everything!  Maybe not all in one day, but day by day we are changed into His image. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part;

then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1Corinthians 13:12

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man

while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law,

and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers,

you also have died to the law through the body of Christ,

so that you may belong to another,

to him who has been raised from the dead,

in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Romans 7:3 ,4

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