Mirrors

They say that we shouldn’t live life with regrets; that we should look upon our mistakes and consider them lessons. I’ve always had a hard time trying to grasp that concept. How could you be cognizant of your mistakes, and not wish you could fix them? Even if they brought me growth, success, or happiness...sometimes I wish I could achieve the same end without the troubled means.

The worst, in my opinion, is a missed opportunity. They’re not necessarily incorrect actions, but a lack of any action at all. My life seems to be plagued with missed opportunities. It hit me the other day that I pretty much wasted four years of college by not being the lamp that God wanted to shine through so much. I was so overwhelmed and distracted with trying to be cool, trying to be smart, or trying to be happy that I completely disregarded my purpose: reflecting the goodness of God. I personally believe that God creates us all as mirrors (I mean, He did create us in His image, right? So in essence, we’re already reflecting His “physical” character), and our task in this world is to point ourselves directly back to the Source. No matter where we go or what situation we’re in, our mission is to find that sliver of light, to bounce off our surface…just like a mirror. But when we obscure that truth, we find ourselves in darkness. And everyone knows that a mirror in darkness is pointless.

I started thinking, “what’s worse than a mirror with no light?” We can all agree that a mirror without light is useless, but what about a broken mirror? What about broken shards of glass lying around aimlessly? At that point, we’ve passed futility and entered danger. A broken mirror is dangerous. So while I was in college, preoccupied with the illusions of the world, I was not only not fulfilling my purpose as my Creator designed me, but I was potentially causing harm to myself and others. Of course hindsight is 20/20; but if I could go back to college, I would have tried so hard to use every day on that campus as an opportunity to realize how great our God really is. I wouldn’t have hid my faith when I felt embarrassed, I wouldn’t have hesitated to bring it up in conversation, I wouldn’t have been afraid to go against the social current.

But, after this past weekend, I’ve realized that every mistake and every action (or lack of) has its perfect place in God’s overall plan. So now, my task is to take what I’ve learned and not be an idiot! God has placed His awesomeness in every single one of us; it’s our job to manifest that awesomeness in our lives.