Through Stained Glass: The Magic Mirror by Annie Hieronymous

(This week's post is written by Annie Hieronymous. She is a member at First Presbyterian Church and creator of the little library at The Christian Child Care in Lincoln, Illinois. Annie is a deacon, Cubs fan, and poet.)

Remember to bring your little mirror to worship this Sunday! 

The Magic Mirror

When I was a child, I loved to watch Romper Room.  Every morning I would sit in front of the TV and watch the kids sing songs and do fun things.  But the thing I waited for most anxiously was the Magic Mirror.  I’d move up close to the TV and sit quietly, hoping against hope that Miss Rosemary would see me through her magic mirror.

“Romper Bomper Stomper boo

Tell me, tell me, tell me do

Magic mirror tell me today,

Have all my friends had fun at play?”

I sat with bated breath, full of hope that just this once she would say my name.  She’d go through the list and of course, I was terribly disappointed when mine wasn’t mentioned.  It was kind of heartbreaking that she didn’t see me.  After all, everyone wants to be seen.

We spend a lot of time every day standing in front of a mirror.  We primp. We preen.  We mess with our hair and put on our make-up.  We check to see if what we’re wearing makes us look fat.  We dance or sing our favorite rock song.  We practice that one conversation that is so important.

Mirrors come in so many shapes and sizes and they don’t lie about what is on the outside.  But sometimes mirrors become scratched, cracked, or even broken, much like our own lives.  Are we sad?  Are we hurting?  Are we lonely?  Those are the things a mirror can’t tell us.

It would be wonderful if every time we looked into our eyes in that reflection, we could just say, “I love you.”  Three little words.  God wants us to first love ourselves so we can take the path to loving and caring for others.  We need to know ourselves.  We need to know what’s on the inside as well as the outside.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” – I Corinthians  13:12

So let’s get out our magic mirror and see ourselves.  Let’s look deep inside.  We are, after all, not just a face.  Let our reflections mean something to us, and then it will mean a lot to others as well.

Tracy Morgan said, “I know who I am.  When I look in the mirror, I see me.”

The path to a good life, happiness, and fulfillment starts inside us.   We can walk towards redemption, forgiveness, and love.  It is a path well taken, right through the looking glass.  Jesus is waiting on the other side.