I had the opportunity to stay in a place away from home recently. I didn’t like it. Don’t get me wrong…it was peaceful, relaxing, pleasing to the eye, comfortable, away…. No…what I didn’t like was the mirror. The mirror itself was beautiful…full-length, solid. But….it didn’t make me look like I did in the mirror at home.
My cheap, Z-mart no-brand mirror that makes me look taller. Because I look taller, the pudge that children and the occasional bowl of ice cream have contributed to over the past years…that the keto-diet and exercise has not completely obliterated…looks longer, and therefore not so bad. Yes, I prefer my economic mirror at home to this nice one.
Now, here was the kicker and my point for today…which mirror is correct? And does it matter. Many a woman and mom would say it doesn’t matter. And that’s fine. This is not a post on weight-bashing; having faced that demon before in my past and working in the health field and having children of my own, especially not about weight-bashing. And it’s not about even being healthy, though I believe it should be our daily challenge to live healthfully.
Go back, back into your childhood. Do you remember a story about a certain Emperor who paraded about in his underwear, convinced by all those around him that he was wearing the most beautiful invisible clothes? Until finally a child shouted out ‘Mommy, he’s not wearing any clothes.’ Even if I want to think, and in fact, my mirror tells me I’m enough inches taller that I’m thinner than I really am….what is the truth??? The truth is…I’m 5 foot something and known as being vertically challenged hehe. It tells me that I enjoy comfy foods and a good time more than working out constantly and always eating healthy.
There’s a Bible verse that states “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. This verse came to me while looking in this ‘lying’ mirror…no matter what everyone else is telling you, trying to convince you of who you are….where your heart it, that is who you are. The mirrors may lie….but your heart never does. It does not matter if you do not like what you see in this particular ‘mirror,’ and if you change the mirror out again and again until you find a mirror that ‘reflects’ what you want it to. If you say you’re 6 feet tall but against a measuring stick you’re only 5 foot 5 inches….you are only 5 foot 5 inches tall. If you say you are a Christian yet you act and talk and post like you’re not…but you hunt around until you find people who say ‘you’re a Christian’….
I don’t like what I saw in that mirror. Now, I’m happy to go back to the mirror that makes me feel better about myself…but I think I may lay off of the ice cream a little more and try a few more planks.
