The way of Christ is a way of learning to be in our world. It is the way of learning to be authentic, honest, whole and our truest self. The journey to that reality is a lot of looking in the mirror at one’s own reflection. Do you like the you that is looking back…the whole story of you?
Too often we walk through life with our mirrors facing others and become experts at picking out the defects of others and then looking into our own mirror and seemingly missing our greatest obstacles. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus invites us to be examiners of the self. He says, Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye? First take the log out of your eye and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of the eye of another. What is he saying? Once you clean up your own stuff, only then will you be able to deal with another’s. And what happens when you clean up your own stuff? You start seeing with the vision of love rather than judgment, resentment or posturing yourself as better!
Today, I invite you to take a piece of paper and list some of those people in which you are picking splinters from their lives. Instead of picking, why not pray for them? Pray that the Spirit might bless them; pray that they may discover the fullness of love; pray that your heart may see them the way God sees them! And then start paying attention to how you are viewing others…is it with love?