Reflect on Your Mirrors

Sometimes, God puts us next to or in front of someone who has a similar fault that we have to act as a mirror for us. It could be just for a few minutes, part of the day, or every day. It could be the stranger you encounter in a store who, just like you, gets impatient with a store clerk who's helping someone else - you. It could be the coworker who, just like you, talks to himself incessantly and swears, but unlike you, realizes that he talks to himself and uses euphemisms. It could be your spouse who, just like you, likes to make and spend money, only you criticize them for it but think of yourself as an investor.

Why is it so difficult to see our own faults and so easy to see the faults in others, especially when the faults are the same? As Jesus said, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your eye?" It could be that brother is acting as a mirror. The sawdust is from the same rigid plank of stubbornness that's in our eye. We can't see it because we're too close to it; it's too enmeshed in our ego for us to objectively observe it. So, God puts a mirror in front of us.

Most of the time, we only see the reflection and laugh at and criticize the reflection. But one day, we may realize, "Hey, I do the same thing." Or perhaps the other person realizes it because you're acting as a mirror for them. You're the one with only a speck in your eye.

If you have a speck in your eye, how do you get it out? You have to get really close to your reflection, shine some light on it, and carefully extract it after intense focus and scrutiny. So, I invite you to spend a few minutes in meditation, reflecting on the person or persons in your life who act as a mirror to you. Perhaps it's a son or daughter who is just like you were when you were their age. Perhaps you still have some of that same rebelliousness and immaturity. Whatever it is, try to look at yourself objectively. Is this quirk or bad habit really who you are? Can you let go of it? Don't focus on the other person. And don't just criticize yourself for a fault but extract it. Criticizing yourself is like rubbing your eye; it just makes it worse. Now that you're shining the light of awareness on it, you can remove it. And once you do so, you'll be better able to help your brother, coworker, spouse, or child remove it from their eye, just as Jesus said.