Keeping It Real

A reflection is an amazing occurrence of color, light, and images, bouncing off glassy bodies of water, polished metals, mirrored glass, and other objects. Beautiful pictures of majestic natural sites, such as mountains and glaciers, reflected off lakes and oceans, cover walls in offices and homes and litter the pages of Google image searches. Mirrors in bathrooms, along halls, in small rooms to give the impression of a more vast area, are common in our lives.

In our youth, we stare into the mirror to mold our physical look into what we want the outside world to see, unaware of the significance of our inside world on our beings. As we age, we dread the mirror as it reflects back to us our vanishing hairlines, the gray forming in our eyebrows, beards, and hair, the wrinkles that surround our eyes and mouth, and the slowly changing physic due to our body changes, weight and gravity. It’s funny how the mirror we gazed into for so many hours in our youth has become the painful reminder of our aging bodies and mortality.

Father Matthew, the wise and aged monk at the Abby of Gethsemane, often gazed into the direction of those who gathered to hear him talk before bed and would remind his audience, “Christian, remember, you are immortal”. Oh, how true his words become as we age and realize how mortal our bodies are and how eternal our souls will always be. Imagine if as we walked the world we came upon moral mirrors reflecting our true selves, our moral inner being, which will stand before our Creator some day, for the entire world to see. Makes me rather joyful that there are no moral mirrors…or are there?

I encourage you, my friend and reader, to evaluate the moral values, the true you, that is reflected by those around us. Evaluate the tendency to give praise versus condemnation. Contemplate upon the image of yourself that is reflected back in the eyes of your children, your spouse, your employees, your neighbors, and your friends. If you were on trial for being a creation of humility, values, and integrity, would you pass the trial? Evaluate your habitual habits, who you are from the inside out.

Our soul is a mirror that reflects what truly rests behind the epidermis of our shell. Our soul reflects what we choose to place into our inner-selves, when no one is watching, when God is the only witness. Embrace the reality of your Creator, choose to make the changes to the condition of your soul, begin to allow God to create the authentic you He so desires, and allow your soul to unashamedly reflect your Creator within His creation.


(The writings in this post are random thoughts and observations and are NEVER intended as professional or personal advice. Take what works and leave the rest. For information on mental health and/or substance abuse help, visit http://www.rodneyvalandra.com and refer to the links page.)