…for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…..Psalm 139:14

Rev. Jack O'Dell

There was research done by some scientists years ago about the affect that waiting had for people who waited for elevators in the skyscrapers of New York City. I am always amazed at what some researchers can choose to research. Did the researchers get in an elevator filled with great anxiety and decide that something has to be done about this? Or was the research the result of the researcher’s own anxiety or maybe their spouse? Go figure.

Anyway, researchers concluded that if the areas outside the elevators where people waited and the elevators themselves were filled with mirrors, anxiety went down. A certain percentage of people even missed their ride or getting off the ride as a result of mirrors being present.

For some, mirrors are hard to look at. They show every wrinkle, every roll, every imperfection of the present. As one looks in the mirror, one is also remembering the past---what one used to look like, the scar from that accident—even the dream of what one had wised to become.

Did God fear that we would not see how wonderful we are? I know it is a strange question. I seem to have a knack for asking the weirdest things. As God created each one of us in our own uniqueness, could it be that God knew all to well the anxiety that we would give to ourselves in spite of the wonder that God fixed in each one of us? And does the Psalmist know that the only way in which our fears and failures could be removed from us is by the most intimate inspection of the loving God? It seems that the prescription that the Psalm gives to us is to be known by God---every crevice, scar, burden, joy—known and healed by loving acceptance.

I confess that many times in my ordinary it is hard to love me and see the extraordinary. I tend to see all my faults. I see all the scars and imperfections of my body. I know what is in my mind which is not godly at all. The world helps me make a list of all the reasons I am unlovable and unacceptable.

But then I hear the gentle voice of God as if it is a soothing voice of a loving parent. And it tells me the wonder that has been created in me—that is uniquely mine. And my own fears of who I am are met with the love of God. And then, only then, do I comprehend loving others as I love myself.

Maybe during this time, the mirror is the gateway to a deeper love God is offering us.