The Face in the Mirror
Hey, it’s Matt Potratz. It seems crazy to me that summer is running away from us! I don’t know about for you, but for me this year is flying by, crazy fast! I recently one of those weeks when I sat down to write and nothing came, no inspiration flowed. Then I was preparing for my day and examining my face in the mirror, noticing that my skin was starting show that I am aging. It hit me: “The Face in The Mirror”. What are my thoughts when see that face in the mirror? Do I see what I want to see? Do we smile with delight? Do we cringe? Do we wish for something different?
How do you view you? It’s an important question because it affects how you live, and therefore how every other person views you. Is that face in the mirror someone you want to be friends with? Does that face accept you? Does that face forgive you when you mess up? Does that face give you a second chance when you miss the goal? How is your relationship with the person behind that face?
Think about the reality in this: if I decide I don’t like you and you’re not pleasant to be around, I can escape that feeling simply by choosing not to spend time with you. But if I don’t like me, I can’t escape that person, unless of course I kill that person, which unfortunately happens. This message is not written specifically for someone at risk of suicide, these are questions we all need to know the answer to.
Do you like you for you? I’m not asking you if you like your occupation, education, social status, or even your behavior. Those are all part of “what” you are. The question that we all must know the answer to in order to reach our potential is “do I like ‘Who’ I am?” If you don’t like the “what”, don’t let it wreck your life, just change it. But if you don’t like the “who”, you have to learn to love you, because you can change the “what”, but not the “who”.
Yes, I said “love yourself.” You can’t love anyone else well until you first love you. If you don’t learn to love who you are, you will run a never-ending race trying to generate enough “what” to satisfy yourself and find fulfillment, and you’ll never arrive at the finish line.
You might be thinking “ya, but if I love myself, don’t I become arrogant and prideful?” If you love “what” you are, then yes, it can easily become all about how great I am in this world. If you love “who” you are, the person behind the face in the mirror, you need much less from, and can give much more to this world.
Look the face in the mirror and ask yourself: do I love the person, or the position, possessions, prosperity, etc? Don’t run from that face in the mirror. Get to know the person behind the face. Believe in that person, trust that person, forgive that person, love that person, because you can’t escape that person. He or she is with you for life.
I’ll close with this: there’s only ONE you. God doesn’t do carbon copy. He made you exactly the way you are for a specific and divine purpose. If you’re unsure of that purpose, hit your knees, and pray until God begins to show you. Then look that face in the mirror and go fulfill that purpose, that only ONE face can ever fulfill.
