As I Look in My Mirror . . . 

I am looking at my face.  In a mirror.   I can see how I’ve aged, complete with puffiness under my eyes and a mottled skin tone that comes with 59 years of life.  I could focus on that.  But instead I look at my eyes.  The eyes.  That is where I live.  In there somewhere.  I am reminded that the outside of my being, my body, although a gift from God, is not really all that I am.

The inside of us is a jewel, a fascinating, complex creation.  You know,  the outside can often betray what is inside.  See that obese woman walking down the street?  Her thighs swish together, she saunters sideways, trying to propel her excess weight forward.  On the outside, she is not really a pretty picture.  But if we give her the time, if we explore what is behind her eyes, we will see someone with complexity, with gifts, with personality.  We just don’t know what’s inside her skin.

Or, we could be looking at a man with cerebral palsy, hardly able to form a sentence without stuttering or slurring his words.  Take note!  He has something to say.  There is a person in there who is articulate and intelligent.

Even the simple folk in our world, those who have been gifted with a mental impairment, they have a wealth of personhood, of personality and temperament waiting for us to discover.

So I look in the mirror and see me, and I see God's mark.  I am made in His image and it is a humbling thing to ponder.