A Mirror Holder

A Mirror Holder

I am sure each of us, wherever we live, have a mirror we look into, probably many times a day. In my house there are multiple mirrors. One in my bathroom where I get ready, a full length mirror in my closet, and there is also one at each door in my house. I would not consider myself a vain person, or one that spends much time in front of a mirror, but I have them all over my house and use them frequently.

Why do I look into them? Because I care about how I look. Yes, I know, some would say that is self absorbed, but I don’t feel it is. Don’t we all care about how we look to some extent or another? Yet I find myself concerned when the physical mirror is all we look into. We polish the outside, get the perfect hair cut, lose the extra weight, tone each muscle, wax, shave, pluck, and the list goes on. Yet, we never look on the inside, we are so worried about how we look, we forget to look at who we are and what our lives are reflecting. Side

In life, we all have had things happen to us that are less than perfect. We all have been let down, hurt, damaged, maybe these are things that happened to us from our family, maybe from friends or the church, the possibilities are endless.  And the worse part, we don’t always see these things or admit to the pain they have caused. We can go through life completely oblivious to the baggage we carry behind us. And what’s worse, in our obliviousness we hurt the people around us and hurt ourselves because we do not see the weight that is pulling us down and injuring us.  We walk around bleeding and leaving a mess everywhere we go and are totally unaware that we are in need of help, that we are in need of a “mirror holder.”

Let me explain, you see we look in mirrors everyday, we check to make sure we look good on the outside, but never look on the inside. We have so much luggage behind us and live life half alive because we are so in bondage with the things that have happened to us, or things we have done.

What would it look like if we started to hold a mirror up to our lives and truly looked and saw what we are carrying around? What would it look like if we let a person we could trust help hold the mirror up and help us see what we are blinded to? What would it look like if we actually dealt with our baggage and slowly, persistently, got rid of our baggage piece by piece and lived a life free of entanglements?

This is not easy work I am talking about. It means facing the ugly in your life. The dysfunction. The hurt.  The pain.

But let me tell you, every tear, every ounce of pain and discomfort is worth it. When we truly look into the mirror and start dealing with what we see, you start to find freedom. Freedom from what has held us in bondage for so long.

I by no means have arrived, or have all the answers. I feel like a baby in so many ways, yet I have let someone hold a mirror up to my life and have worked through issue after issue. When I started meeting with a counselor six months ago, I felt like I would never be a “normal” person. I felt like there was just to much dysfunction, to much pain, to much disappointment to ever be a whole person. Yet I sit here just months later and feel like a new person. I have worked hard, I have had to face things in my life I didn’t want to admit were there. I had to come to terms with disappointments in life, and ultimately choose a different path for my life. I choose life and freedom, and I would not trade this for the world.

So who is holding your mirror? Yes, I know, there is a stigma about seeing a counselor. I must admit, I have not told many people because it is very misunderstood. Yet, we all need this. We all need someone in our lives to hold a mirror and help us see who we are. How are you finding freedom from the past and seeking the new life that Christ offers? I challenge you, don’t live life only looking at the physical, live life fully by looking honestly at who you are and what you want to be. It is life changing, it is freedom.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3