The Looking Glass

It always surprises me that the perception we have of ourselves is rarely shared by all those around us. We each look in the mirror and are rarely surprised by the character staring back at us. Oh we see the physical features like everyone else, but we struggle with the warring worlds within us. When speaking to my kids and my friends and certainly my bride I reference all the "voices" in my head. They are a vocal bunch and apparently rather contentious. You see we are not simply one way or another and we look different to those around us. But our lives are less like a mirror and more like a looking glass.

Turning the looking glass one way, I am a reflective soul. I enjoy pondering the mysteries of this life. Quiet reflection was something I had to learn, it is done in silence and solitude. It can only be accomplished by quieting all the noise in my head long enough to left full disclosure happen. There are some dark and scary thoughts in there, but those thoughts are simply an ingredient of what makes me..well, me. But this discipline of reflection has to be exercised the same as working out at the gym, it is not a natural product of our culture. So why desire this particular ingredient? Because it also allows me the ingredient of discernment. It helps me understand motive and actions, it gives me insight into the dark places of others, both close and distant. This ingredient also gives me some level of calm, peace in an unpeaceful world. I am allowed to quiet the panic that engulfs most of us at one time or another.

So I can spin the looking glass another way and understand that there are at least four people in the world accept me as a benevolent force in their world. Two of them call me "grandaddy" one of them calls me "gandadadad.." the fourth simply looks at me with either a mild look of concern or one of the most endearing little grins you could imagine. But these four hold a very special place that no one else holds. I treat them differently than I do anyone else in the world and I think at some level they understand that. So the reflection they see is a guy who just wants to be with them, to soak them up as often as possible because the sand will run out of my hourglass before it does theirs, then they will only have the memories of me. So the reflection looks different to them than anyone else.

This looking glass has so many sides. Husband, father, son, uncle, friend, opponent, employee, boss, father-in-law, competitor, citizen, member, grandaddy, and the list literally goes on and on. I have a customer that refers to me as "the plain-spoken Texan" others have other descriptions, not always as flattering. So who is the real "me"? All of them, and only some of them, and occasionally none of them.

But I think there are some reflections that are the real thing. I try for honesty, integrity, compassion, generosity, and the toughest of all..humility. Some would point out that I don't have all that much to be proud of in my own crazy make-up, but the human condition is one that places pride above the rest of the traits. It is the one we fight against the hardest and the most often. The traits above should be found regardless of which way you turn the looking glass. It is when these traits are left out that the looking glass refuses to awe us.

I have wondered if this is the aspect of God that we have not seen. We each turn the God-prism so it looks the prettiest to us. Something in my background or yours might compel us to look at the glass that best reflects grace or love or forgiveness. But if we keep turning the glass we will see jealousy, vengeance, intractability, single-mindedness, a demand for loyalty, and the reflections go on and on. You see, I think that God is as multi-dimensional as we are, perhaps more so. And like us he has traits that are reflected from each image in the looking glass. I think these go back to the words above, integrity, honesty, compassion, etc. In this way perhaps we are created in his image.

Godspeed out there. Remember that the looking glass has many sides, it is the wonder of this life when we grow wise enough to turn the glass and enjoy all the colors.
Don