Mirror Image

Isn’t it funny how we can just cruise on through daily life with nary a thought about those innocuous little things like the speckles of toothpaste splayed over the Bathroom mirror and then all of a sudden you can’t NOT notice.

Your reflection in the mirror seems marred by the artfully arranged spots – of, well, toothpaste spit eeeoooew- that your precious family have left there as evidence of their last several brushing episodes! Little darlings....

There’s a couple of ways to look at this I guess.

1. You have proof, they actually do clean their teeth!

2. your outward appearance really doesn’t matter that much or you would have noticed the “spots” sooner

3. or could it be more accurately said that you are lucky if you get Breakfast in the morning let alone time to put on your day face

4. you know it’s bad when your 5 year olds start playing dot to dot

5. you know who the culprits are because the “spot” line is considerably lower than your reflection

I think we are really good at going on our way, squeezing as much as we can out of each day. But every now and then the “spots” just stick out. They become glaringly obvious, and where we barely even noticed them yesterday, today we can’t stand them. Strangely reminiscent of our role as a parent. We cruise along, keeping everybody fed, afloat, organised, fed, bathed, happy, clean, wiped, fed etc and then their flaws slap us up the side of the head. Hello! You catch yourself thinking…

“Will he ever learn?” “Will they ever close their mouths when chewing their food?” “Will she ever learn to wipe her own bottom?” “Will I ever get a full night’s sleep?” “Will they just do what they’re told?” “Will I ever get on top of my washing?” “Actually will I ever get my washing sorted/folded/put away?” “Will I ever get to draw/read/watch a movie/eat my own meal/have an uninterrupted adult conversation again?”

I wonder if that is how God sees us. Are our profiles obscured by the spotty record of our comings and goings? Are our flaws more glaringly obvious on some days than others? Undoubtedly they are. However I believe that God is the only one who really sees us. Who overlooks the speckles of lingering “baggage” from our past that we insist on dragging around. And he loves us for the people we are. In his eyes you are nothing but a pure and beautiful person, and he loves you.

Psalm 139 (New International Version)

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to ^[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

I’m off to clean by Bathroom mirror, to lovingly wipe away every spit and speckle left there by our children. And I’m going to do it with a thankful heart, thankful that God chose me to be their mum, thankful that they are a precious part of my life, thankful that most of the time I overlook these spots because I guess really in the scheme of things….it’s no biggie….

Thankful that you didn’t drop in today with it looking like that!!!!