There was once a beautiful girl with all the advantages of youth. She left a trail of broken hearts just with her smile. However, with all her outward beauty, she was full of pride, vanity, and bitterness. She was obsessed by her looks. She would stand in front of her mirror for hours, secretly asking, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?” In her own mind, she was the fairest of them all.
One night the woman had a dream. She stood before two mirrors. She stepped in front of one of the mirrors and saw a reflection of herself. She was truly beautiful and her heart filled with pride. However, as she stood in front of the second mirror, she was horrified at the grotesque reflection within. It was the ugliest old woman she had ever seen. There was gray in her thinning hair. The ravages of time had left her face wrinkled beyond recognition. The old woman's back was bent with the weight of life and her hands drawn as claws. Thinking it was another person, she raised her hand to her face; so did the old woman. Every move she made, the old woman made. “Mirror,” she asked, “what trick is this that you would play on me?” In the mirror a man appeared, ordinary in looks, but in his eyes was the light of the world. Softly, he said, “This mirror is how your heart looks to me.”
How often do we see our hearts in the mirror? Do we see our true reflection or rather our idea of who we are? We think we are good people, but we do not see ourselves as God sees us. However, there will be a day we see ourselves for who we are. “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” (1 Cor 13:12). What will Jesus see when we are face to face? He sees our soul; does the world? Do people see us? Or do they see Jesus?