I have had a couple different blogs about reflections recently. This time, I’m going a different direction with the word reflection. For some of you, a mirror may come to your mind when I say the word, and you may not like what you see in a mirror. Perhaps, it’s your physical appearance–too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, too light, too dark, too many wrinkles, too bald, etc., or it may be a character flaw (what you know is on the inside) that you don’t like. It may be that you have an anger problem, or that you are too impatient, too hypocritical (or perhaps the opposite), too lazy (or just a lack of self-discipline to get necessary things done), too dishonest, too proud, too negative, or too much of a worrier. We’ll look at both kinds in this blog.

The first physical characteristic that I notice about myself when I look in the mirror these days is that my weight has been redistributed in my body. I’m still not very heavy (even close to the the same weight as I was in high school many years ago), but somehow it seems that my top keeps dropping to my bottom and thighs a little bit more each decade. And now, during this Covid-19 period of social distancing and quarantining, I have found that I have “bad hair” days frequently. I need a hair cut so badly to reshape what used to be a short style haircut.

Then, recently I have also seen someone in the mirror who has made too many excuses for my character flaws due to being raised (or in many ways, raising myself) in a very dysfunctional, single-parent home in the 60’s and 70’s. I don’t particularly like either of those reflections that I have been seeing. Well, should I just fret about the things that I don’t like about myself, or do something to try and change those things?

I believe that if you really want to change negative things about yourself and become more disciplined and Christ-like, God will help you. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”; Matthew 19:26 says that “with God all things are possible”; Matthew 7:7 says, “ask, and it shall be given unto you”; and Romans 7:24 reminds of how wretched we are in ourselves, but verse 25 says that victory comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, to change those things that you don’t like about yourself, start by talking to God about them, and ask Him to help you change them. Then, set goals, make a realistic schedule, find someone who will help keep you accountable, and finally, thank God for what He is going to do in and through you. Don’t let the enemy discourage you (or even make a monkey out of you). Although God sometimes does things supernaturally, He often uses the natural ways to teach and grow us, so it often takes time to get rid of those bad habits and to develop good habits for Him.

My plan of action is to get up a little earlier to start each morning with a longer quiet time  praying and reading the Bible (Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”), schedule in at least 2 forms of exercise daily (probably an aerobic and an anaerobic form), ask a family member to help keep me accountable, and to turn off (or walk away from) anything that distracts me from my goals. Then, of course, I’m going to thank and praise God for what He is doing in me.