What if we could see through the mirror?

I’ve dragged this beautiful, old door around with me through several addresses. Because I had plans to repurpose it into something new and useful. I just didn’t know what. Yet.

 

And now, inspired by the possibility of moving back into our house (sometime before Christmas), the idea for a full-length mirror took shape.

 

I scraped and sanded and painted. And then sanded the new paint job.

 

And Dan—my trusty shop assistant, er, I mean shop boss—glued the mirror in place and reattached the spruced-up hardware.

 

“I should blog about this,” I said. “But what could I write that’s not a repeat of my other repurposing-old-junk–into-cool-new-stuff blogs?”

“Hmmm, a mirror … it’s a reflection of your physical appearance but not your inner self,” my very wise husband commented. “It’s how the world sees you.”

Dan continued:

We lean toward being more concerned with the outward appearance, when really we should care more about inner character.

(You see what I mean by “very wise,” right?)

We should care more about inner character because it shows who we really are.

Wouldn’t we want integrity and honesty at the top of the list when hiring employees or looking for spiritual leadership?

Wouldn’t we hope for reliability in a business associate or contractor?

And who doesn’t want compassion and understanding in a friend? Or kindness and unconditional love in a spouse?

Inner character matters.

The Apostle James included these instructions in a letter to the early Christian churches:

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. – James 1:22-24, The Message Bible

James is saying, Let the Word of God be a mirror to show us what we really look like. And then, if we see impatience, for example, act upon it. Own it. Ask for God’s help. Practice patience.

This thought from an author unknown:

Mirrors show us what we look like, not who we are.

And who we are truly matters.

This repurposed door-into-mirror will lean against a wall in our guest bathroom. I don’t think I’ll ever glance into it without thinking about the importance of being who we claim to be, of mirroring the beauty of God—in our lives, our marriages, our families.