Who do you want to see in your reflection?
A friend of mine just returned from a missions trip to Ghana. Over lunch today, she shared with me all that her trip entailed including something that tugged at my heart. During one of her days in Ghana, she and her team went to an orphanage to love on the kids there through games, special attention, prayer, song, etc. One of the activities they did with the kids in the orphanage was two-fold: 1. Take individual pictures of the kids and print them out, 2. Take those pictures and create fake passport posters for the kids. After team Ghana took pictures of the kids, they printed the photos and placed the pictures in a pile so the kids could pick their pictures and get started with the activity. Well, to their surprise, the kids did not move. In fact, the kids looked puzzled and began asking where their pictures were. Team Ghana and my friend quickly learned that the kids had NO IDEA what they looked like - what their face looked like. They had never seen their image in a mirror, piece of glass, reflection... nothing! After awhile, they began to figure it out because the kids would recognize the other kids and say, "That's you." Or, they'd recognize the shirt they were wearing... but they had no idea what their face looked like until someone told them by saying, "Hey, that's you."
Wow.
We have no idea how much God loves us. Sometimes we have issues seeing ourselves as God sees us. If God were to show us a picture of how He sees us, would you recognize yourself? If so, would you believe what you see? Our Father even declares who we truly are in the midst of our struggles and fears. Even in our insecurity, God is saying, "Hey, that's you. See, this is who you truly are. This is who I've created you to be. See?" Lately, I've spent a lot of time in prayer, crying (literally) about feeling inadequate in certain areas of my life. And, although I can hear the soft whisper of our Father speaking to my heart, often times what I see doesn't match up with what I hear. So, I've had to realign my thoughts with His thoughts and my eyes with His eyes by abiding in what His word says about me. That way, there will never be a time when I look at myself and not recognize who I am - or not recognize who I was created to be.
I want to see Christ in my reflection.
