While living in Cairo we would visit a friend who had decorated an entire wall with mirrors from the Middle East.
It was stunning. Some were intricate, some plain; some burnished gold, some silver, some wooden. All of them were unique. All of them were beautiful. Their only common feature was the glass that reflected out of them. Glass that caught the faces and mannerisms of people in the room.
I have a wall of mirrors. Five. Each one is beautiful, each one unique. And each one reflects back the good and the bad of their parents.
They mirror creativity and stubbornness; brains and insecurity; a strong sense of justice and misplaced reactions. They reflect wonder, wrong, and sin.
Fun but Scary these mirrors are! I catch that ugly look of envy and know it came from me. I pray as I see the look of defeat, so familiar to me, now seen in my children mirrors. I laugh as I see the sense of humor and laughter, the eyes alight with a thought that brings joy.
My wall of mirrors slowly gets smaller. They’ve graduated to other places and will one day have mirrors of their own.
And I think about the Great Creator of this wall of mirrors, the almighty God who surely knew them in their mother’s womb. A God who “knows where they sit and where they stand”, knows what they think and where they’re going. Nothing is hidden from this Creator God.
He sees this wall in all its beauty and frailty – He loves my wall of mirrors.
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Marilyn R. Gardner 
A beautiful analogy and picture! I would have loved to see your friend’s wall of mirrors
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You write truth about children mirroring back what has been them…or better yet, what they have ‘caught’ from us!
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Yes!! Sort of like a bad virus sometimes, right?! :(
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“Mirror, mirror on the wall……” Let’s face it. We cannot hide the truth. The reflection tells it all. Thanks again Marilyn.
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Love this Bettie! In fact that should have been put into the post! Thank you.
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I have recently acquired an interest in mirrors. While I haven’t started my own wall, they are drawing me in. We so often hide from ourselves, that we need a reminder to look at who we are.
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Oh so good! It’s true isn’t it? And then when I see my reflection in my children sometimes I want to hide from myself more…! One of my favorite stories of mirrors comes from a college president’s wife – as she was aging she got up one day and caught sight of her reflection in the full-length hallway mirror and sighed. Her husband heard her and came up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissed her and said “Don’t believe everything you see! Things are not always as they appear” It was so sweet and wonderful….
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