“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all...”
This familiar saying from Snow White captures the vanity of an aging queen. When looking into her magical mirror, she found she’d been displaced by another who was more beautiful than she. In the movie, we find ourselves rooting for the fair young Snow White, while hoping for justice against the evil wicked queen.
But as I examine my own mirror and the passing of time, I can see the fault with this whole premise. The question is: what mirror are you or I gazing in to from which to draw life or validation?
In fairytales, the beautiful are esteemed as worthy and the ugly as unbecoming or unloved. And in real life, girls from a very early age are told they’re pretty and are validated for outward beauty. But who sets the standard of what is considered beautiful?
Pick up any magazine or log onto any social media site, look at Hollywood and its stars and you’ll be inundated with those unhealthy “mirror messages” to look a certain way, dress in a particular fashion, or even weigh a particular weight... The messages that can create self-doubt are endless, to the point that even young girls are developing eating disorders or having breast implants while still in high school. Some young women are even signing up for Botox and facial surgery to prevent any aging lines or to change their appearance altogether.
I once knew a mom that had her daughter’s nose surgically changed while she was in junior high school and another that gave her daughters breast implants for their high school graduation gifts. These young girls didn’t feel beautiful until they’d had these surgeries.
Not that I condemn any forms of self-improvement. But we have to ask ourselves at what cost or again what is the standard of beauty?
There are even apps now that “improve” your appearance. Photoshop programs airbrush cover models to perfection, while trimming her already slender figure to a fantasy that cannot be obtain short of starving yourself! And we’re deceived when we look into these false mirrors of seeming perfection for self-comparison and self-acceptance.
These mirrors are deceptive and send constant messages that “you are not enough as you are.” That “you are not the fairest in the land.” That “you are not esteemed and loved just as you are!”
What mirror are you looking into to find your beauty? The mirror of the world will always change, will always say you are inadequate or that there is someone younger, someone better, more beautiful, more talented... The list is endless.
God wants you to gaze into His eyes and says: “You are altogether lovely. You are my beloved and I am Yours.” He says, “You are beautiful, because you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
When we spend more time gazing into the mirror of the truth of His Word, then we find peace of mind and a security the world can never offer. We find that the truth He declares is that we are accepted and considered beautiful, because we are made in His likeness and His image! We find joy and self-acceptance at every stage in life, because of the truth He declares over us. And it’s not predicated on our looks or perfection, but simply because we are His beloved!
Yes, indeed: fearfully and wonderfully made in every stage of life.
Now gaze in His mirror.
Beloved:
Do you not know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made? Do you realize that I fashioned and formed you and had a plan for your life even before the foundation of the earth? I knit you together in your mother’s womb with such tender care and with such a unique design that there is only one of you! You are literally one in a million times a million over. I planned and designed your life with the fine craftsmanship of a Master Sculpture and even painted the color of your eyes and more with an Artist’s detailed brush.
You are not a mistake. You are my beloved daughter and when I look at you, I see beauty. Never let the world or the lies of the enemy or anyone define your worth or beauty. Look unto Me and My Word of truth and find your validation there. I love you now and forever and you are My delight!
“I give thanks to You, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well,” (Psalms:139:14)
