Are You Standing in a House of Mirrors?

I recently had an altercation with a loved one.

She thought I said something to hurt her intentionally. I was crushed. I would never!

House of Mirrors

With all the life junk she was dealing with, she heard the words and couldn’t find the truth to process it accurately. Instead of looking up, she found herself standing in a house of mirrors, only looking at herself. Overwhelmed by her circumstances.

Of course, that is exactly where I found myself. My mind spiraled out of control. I replayed our conversations to determine exactly what I said, how I said it. What was my tone? My eyes never left my reflection in those darn pesky mirrors.

God is in Charge of Reconciliation

Because God made things right between Him and me by sending His only Son to the cross, He asks me to make things right with my brothers and sisters. (2 Corinthians 5:17 MSG)

I felt compelled to make things right, but the more I replayed our conversations the more certain I was that I did nothing wrong. It became increasingly harder to justify my reaching out, first. Those pesky mirrors told me nothing but lies and I allowed those lies to live rent-free inside my head for two months!

Anger and Fear hosted my pity party while I sat with Pride and Misery in my house of mirrors.

Kicking and screaming all the way, I conceded to being the first to reach out. I made three attempts to rectify a misunderstanding with no results. My house of mirrors made me claustrophobic.

Prayer

Thankfully, with help from a dear friend, I stepped out of my house of mirrors, looked up, and asked God for help. That’s when I saw this was not about me. It never is. Stepping away from my reflection changed my perspective and allowed God to work through me.

It was not her intention to hurt me any more than it was mine to hurt her, but Satan will do anything in his power to get us to believe the opposite. After all, he is the father of lies.

Selfishness Destroys

The house of mirrors is not a new trick for him, he’s been using it for a long time. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 11 when he tells of Moses and Isaiah’s comments about the Israelites when they fled Egypt, “Fed up with quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears, shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors, and they’re there to this day” (Romans 11:7-8 MSG).

Even King David was upset about the same thing, “I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals, break a leg walking their self-serving ways. I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors and get ulcers playing at God” (Romans 11:9-10 MSG).

Isn’t this exactly how we act?  We are nothing but broken people living in a broken world. The world does not revolve around just one human but around us all. If we can keep our eyes on Jesus and stay out of the house of mirrors, we will have better vision and be better friends to those we love.