Mormon Monday: Through Another Lens

 Most often we see ourselves in the stark morning light creeping in through just peeled open eyes. We may not be just waking up, it might be just after hours of prepping, cinching, covering, labeling, stuffing, preening. It doesn't matter what season it is in your day, the unforgiving morning light shining from our eyes and the tired glare of looking at the same flawed features is always on; there will always be something to worry over and try to mask.
It's funny then how photographers can capture our "best" qualities in a single half hour shoot or how others can look at those same features we stress over and confess their lust for them. How can strangers see what we cannot? Why must we look at the bad over the good? Why must our bodies be guilty before proven innocent in our own eyes? It is equally mystifying and infallible.
Think to how you are with the ones you love most dearly; there are times when there is no getting past your grumpiness... but only with them. If someone pops in for a visit or calls unexpectedly, in that same instant you transform from an impenetrable grump to the friend filled with kind words and laughter. Weird how most of the time our best selves are saved for those we have least invested in. And how true this is within our own minds and especially within the poorly-lit bathroom mirrors of our homes.
But, as I mentioned, those preconceived flaws of body and person seen through the lens of another become beauty and lust and perfection and magic. Looking through the eyes of others will in every way make us better because whether it be praise or criticism, they can make you stronger. Let those words affect you as much as you want them to because you have control over it. Putting stock into what others say can be good and bad, but controlling how much goes in is up to the cook. Make your soup or casserole or bacon-wrapped-unagi-roll everything you ever dreamed by believing in your ability to do it. We are our own strength, our own love, our own person; let you be you without the morning light and just peeled open eyes of yesterday. See what God sees by believing that he can see more than you; He knows what we can become and what we can become is what matters.

We spend so much time critiquing our reflections that we become confined in one state of mind. Selfishness. We lust after the vain imaginations of perfection and forget that it all fades and your left with either wrinkles from envy or laughter. And wouldn't you rather be laughing for them?

So, instead of focusing on how we see or how others see us, the Lord will have the last word. He knows you, the real one; not the fake one on the phone or in visits with friends, nor even the one in that bleak bathroom mirror. Let Him guide you by never losing yourself to the false perfection of everyone else. He is the light that lifts our eyes and minds from our selfish desires. See yourself through His eyes. He created the earth, the seas, the sunsets, the snow, the waterfalls, and you. Out of all His creations, we are the beauty He is most eager to possess and shouldn't that say more than we ever could?

Aloha Monday