House of Mirrors

House of Mirrors

You remember it, don’t you? It was usually nothing more than a little travel trailer set up at the county fair that you used to attend as a kid. You would enter and giggle and laugh at the strange reflections you would see caused by the various mirrors. In some mirrors you looked taller. Others made you look one foot tall and 18 feet wide. Big head, big feet, little eyes, and large ears… the contortions varied and fascinating. Do you realize that every moment you spend with your children you are taking a step back into the house of mirrors? These mirrors, however, are living and breathing. Your kids are simply reflections of you!

Now stop a second and think . . . is the reflection you see contorted, scary, out of balance, grotesque? Like it or not, we reproduce ourselves in the lives of our offspring. If they are cynical, skeptical, angry, lazy, rebellious, apathetic or passionate, committed, considerate, servants, outreach-minded, then look closely because you are seeing yourself. Granted we aren’t the only ones they reflect. But don’t let that be a cop out. If you don’t like what you see in your children, then just remember they are nothing more than a mirror. If you want them to change, then you must change. If their attitude stinks, closely examine your own. Paul understood this principle. He admonished others to “follow me as I follow Christ!” In other words, reflect me! I have met folks who are filled with cynicism and then they complain about that trait in their own kids. I watch as parents stand stoically in worship services, then moan about their kids who are uninterested or uninvolved in worship. We never seem to make the connection! They are simply reflecting us! It is time to take a careful check of the image we reflecting. You may not smell cotton candy or hear the midway salesmen trying to get your quarters, but every day as a parent you venture back into the House of Mirrors!