I have this theory about mirrors, about communities and mirrors.

I have this theory that the mirrors to our hearts, our souls, our real true selves, are morphed like fun-house mirrors. I have this theory that this has something to do with the fall. That one day, on the other side, when all is restored,  it will be easy to see ourselves as God designed us, as we really truly are. It will be just as easy as looking at the things right in front of our face.

But right now, our mirrors are warped.

We hold them up to ourselves and the image we see looks enough like us to fool us into believing that this is the truth. This pulled or shrunken, this distorted face is really our true self. And we look and we see the faces of those around us, we believe that everyone else’s inside thoughts and feelings are perfectly normal and interesting and proportional (though trust THEY don’t see themselves like that) and we are ashamed. We just wished we were like HER, whoever that is, but we know that we aren’t because of what this warped fun house mirror shows us about ourselves.

I have this theory that this warped perception of ourselves has the potential to do some serious damage. Either we walk around believing that we are the only ones with the weird bodies and the misshapen faces, with past hurts and loud voices reminding us what we are not.  We have deep shame about who we think we are, and we begin to choose to see everyone else warped as well, sometimes we even begin to point out other’s features as messed up and un-human. We decide the world will be safer for us, if we can see everyone as jacked up as we see ourselves. So we look for it. Seek and you will find.

I have this theory about warped mirrors, about the solution to warped mirrors, this side of heaven. I believe the solution to our warped mirrors is to find the perfect angle. But the secret is this, your own arms aren’t long enough. Your elbow doesn’t bend that way. You’ll never be able to get the angle right yourself. You need a community, you need someone else, to hold up the mirror and show you what they see. I think we can see our true selves, on this side of earth. I think it just takes someone else to hold up the mirrors for us, to tell us what they see. I think that is what the church is for, what community is for, if we’re doing it right.

People who have been in communities of mirror holders go on to change the world, to adjust the angle of the world’s mirrors. You can recognize a person who has really seen herself by the way she holds up the mirrors to the world. It is a gift, to be a mirror adjuster. We get to show people who they really are, turn the mirror just so, speak the truth.

Look! Don’t you see what I see? You are beautiful, you just can’t see it from your angle. Give me your mirror. Let me help.

I have this theory about mirrors, about communities that hold each other’s up and adjust the angles. I have this idea that if we just work together, we could see what things were like before our mirrors got warped.

*****

I have a lot of great mirror holders in my life, my real life community and also my online community. This was linked with She Loves Magazine a community full of mirror holders. Go and see for yourself.