Being the mom of an almost 16-month-old little girl makes each day come with its own set of challenges, joys, surprises, messes(!), and a variety of experiences and moments that just make my heart smile and then melt to pieces, as these moments and experiences become all-too-fast-fading-into-memories. I remind myself nearly daily that I should take time (make time?) to record each and every one of these little moments, so the memory will last long after my little 16 month old has turned 16 years old. Before I blink twice, I'm sure she'll be married and have her very own 16 month old to nurture and fill up baby books full of similar memories.
With that said, one cute little instance happens nearly daily between the two of us, my sweet daughter and me. (Needed background info: I used to sit on the floor with a full-length mirror and put on my makeup every day. My husband saw this, thought it looked uncomfortable, and promptly bought, assembled, and surprised me with a brand-new vanity, complete with mirror and comfy chair, for Mother's Day this past year. Although that was a very sweet gesture on his part and I do like/enjoy it, I don't use it nearly as much as I probably should for the price he paid for it. And here's why.) Nearly every day, I take my makeup bag full of tiny treasures, my brush, and a small yet magnifying what-looks-like-could-pass-for-an-old-locker-mirror (maybe it is?) into my sweet baby girl's room. I attempt to get ready as she just doots around playing, laughing, and being silly and cute. Pretty much, just doing what every little girl excels at doing. This system has been working out pretty well for me (as long as you don't tell my husband about the abandoned vanity situation going on in the master bedroom every day) because I can get ready for the day while my little one is in her element, playing, doing her thing, etc.
Well, it was working out great for everyone involved (my little one and me) until everyone got involved. And this is what I mean by that. You see, when little one was playing around, I found this great little perch to put my locker-mirror on, so that...
my hands would be free.
and I could still see.
to get ready.
hope you liked that attempt at poetry. ;)
Anyway, little one discovered my mirror perch and decided it was her duty to stop accomplishing her baby-toddler-activity-agenda for those moments and photo-bomb the mess out of my mirror space. And it wasn't just once or twice this happened. It started happening like ALL THE TIME. At first, it was cute. She'd peek in the mirror space, look back at me, giggle, and go on about her baby-wonderland-of-toys. And every day, I'd say playfully, "Get out of my mirror space!" But very quickly, it became her routine every day to hijack my mirror space to the point where I was gaining no progress in the makeup-and-get-ready-department of my day. One day, all of this culminated to the highest degree of her actually unperching my mirror from her toy, hijacking it, and running away gleefully proud of her little self.
All of this lead me to call out to her, "Hey! Get out of my mirror space! Give me back my mirror!!" In all reality, my mirror was perched on her toy. Looking at the bigger picture, it was still my locker-mirror. This whole silly story culminates in a life lesson that I feel God has been slowly weaving into my heart and mind and now quickly knitting onto the pages of my blog.
You see, God's word is like a mirror for the deepest parts of our souls. In fact, James 1:23-25 touches on this idea exactly. In the ESV translation, it reads, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."
Best of all, revisit the beautiful vanity your loving Husband has set, made, and purchased just for you. As you take the time to ready yourself for the day, don't worry about the games, silliness, giggles, and childishness that will continue on in nearby rooms undisturbed. Give yourself a gift of mirror space and breathing room to acknowledge the truth about what His Mirror is showing you.
With that said, one cute little instance happens nearly daily between the two of us, my sweet daughter and me. (Needed background info: I used to sit on the floor with a full-length mirror and put on my makeup every day. My husband saw this, thought it looked uncomfortable, and promptly bought, assembled, and surprised me with a brand-new vanity, complete with mirror and comfy chair, for Mother's Day this past year. Although that was a very sweet gesture on his part and I do like/enjoy it, I don't use it nearly as much as I probably should for the price he paid for it. And here's why.) Nearly every day, I take my makeup bag full of tiny treasures, my brush, and a small yet magnifying what-looks-like-could-pass-for-an-old-locker-mirror (maybe it is?) into my sweet baby girl's room. I attempt to get ready as she just doots around playing, laughing, and being silly and cute. Pretty much, just doing what every little girl excels at doing. This system has been working out pretty well for me (as long as you don't tell my husband about the abandoned vanity situation going on in the master bedroom every day) because I can get ready for the day while my little one is in her element, playing, doing her thing, etc.
Well, it was working out great for everyone involved (my little one and me) until everyone got involved. And this is what I mean by that. You see, when little one was playing around, I found this great little perch to put my locker-mirror on, so that...
my hands would be free.
and I could still see.
to get ready.
hope you liked that attempt at poetry. ;)
Anyway, little one discovered my mirror perch and decided it was her duty to stop accomplishing her baby-toddler-activity-agenda for those moments and photo-bomb the mess out of my mirror space. And it wasn't just once or twice this happened. It started happening like ALL THE TIME. At first, it was cute. She'd peek in the mirror space, look back at me, giggle, and go on about her baby-wonderland-of-toys. And every day, I'd say playfully, "Get out of my mirror space!" But very quickly, it became her routine every day to hijack my mirror space to the point where I was gaining no progress in the makeup-and-get-ready-department of my day. One day, all of this culminated to the highest degree of her actually unperching my mirror from her toy, hijacking it, and running away gleefully proud of her little self.
All of this lead me to call out to her, "Hey! Get out of my mirror space! Give me back my mirror!!" In all reality, my mirror was perched on her toy. Looking at the bigger picture, it was still my locker-mirror. This whole silly story culminates in a life lesson that I feel God has been slowly weaving into my heart and mind and now quickly knitting onto the pages of my blog.
You see, God's word is like a mirror for the deepest parts of our souls. In fact, James 1:23-25 touches on this idea exactly. In the ESV translation, it reads, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."
So, there it is, God's Word acts as a mirror to our lives, if we allow it to. But how many times do we allow distractions, busyness, and frivolity to crowd out our mirror space? How often do we allow preoccupations with other people (comparing ourselves with them, criticizing them, correcting them in our minds, controlling/manipulating them, or completely trying to please them) to get into our mirror space crowding out the truth that God wants us to learn about Him and use it as a means to peel back the layers of lies and discover the truth of the state of our own current selves, minds, attitudes, hearts, and souls? How many times do we knowingly and unconsciously allow thoughts like "if only so-and-so could hear this message" or "God, why did you send this into my life, why didn't you give it to so-and-so" (on and on the list could go) to capture our attention and go running off with the daily-mirror-Truth that is meant for personally for us to get spiritually ready for our today?
Next time you sense in your soul that you're allowing any of these thoughts to become hindrances to your sight and knowledge of what the mirror is trying to teach you, instead of simply allowing it to continue on, day after day, try calling out, "Get out of my mirror space!" Retrieve the truths that are meant for you to apply to your own personal life.
Better yet, find a new (higher?) perch to set your mirror on.
Best of all, revisit the beautiful vanity your loving Husband has set, made, and purchased just for you. As you take the time to ready yourself for the day, don't worry about the games, silliness, giggles, and childishness that will continue on in nearby rooms undisturbed. Give yourself a gift of mirror space and breathing room to acknowledge the truth about what His Mirror is showing you.
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