When reflecting on yourself, look to scripture

When I was young, I had a great mane of hair.

It was dark, thick and had a slight wave in it as it grew longer. It would grow so quickly, I had to get it cut every three weeks.

Mind you, I always liked to have my hair cut short because the second I could feel hair starting to touch the top of my ears it would irritate me and be my sign that it was time to get it cropped.

I sported one of those classic ’80s haircuts that was a lot like Tom Cruise’s in “Top Gun.”

I would stop between each of my classes to go to the bathroom to make sure my hair was just right and I would fix any minute strand that dared to step out of line.

Some would consider this vain. Others may have considered this simply conscientious. I considered it necessary to present myself as best I could at any given moment.

My hair wasn’t the only thing that would get a “once-over” while I was looking in the mirror. In similar 1980s fashion, I would make sure that my plaid button-down Polo or Gant shirt was evenly untucked on all sides of my body.

Not too long that you couldn’t see the belt that matched the shoes, but not too short that it didn’t provide that free flying flow one needed to be able to move the arms and carry the backpack without feeling constricted.

Before the term metrosexual was a thing, I was the epitome of it daily. I had a love/hate relationship with a mirror, as I think many of us do.

When we first look into the mirror, we often identify flaws in our appearance. If it isn’t our dishevelled hair, it is something to do with our clothing. If it isn’t our clothing, it’s something we should have covered up or plucked earlier that we missed.

It is a rare occasion for any of us to investigate ourselves in a mirror and not identify at least one or two things that we quickly try to fix.

James, the author of the book of James in the New Testament, makes an interesting observation and parallel between looking into a mirror at ourselves and looking at the word of God.

“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts — this person will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-24.

I love how practical and down-toearth this illustration is as we can all relate.

Can you think of a time when you looked into a mirror, noticed your hair was tossed before you were about to go out somewhere, shrugged your shoulders and thought to yourself, “Whatever!” and proceeded to walk out the door looking like a wreck?

I am sure you have never done that because we all want to present ourselves in the best way we can.

Similarly, James says, when it comes to your spiritual life, you should read the scripture and when you notice your life does not mirror what is presented in it, you need to make the necessary changes to make sure that your life mirrors the life God would have you live.