Day 19: The Looking Glass

     Pat will tell you that I have a difficult time in the mornings.  I do not wake up feeling refreshed and ready to greet the world.  It's more like trying to claw my way out of a deep pit.  Still, my alarm goes off each weekday morning at 5:00 and after hitting the snooze alarm once, I roll out of bed, stagger down the stairs and exercise.  I confess that I sometimes sleep in my exercise clothes so that I am more motivated to exercise if I am already dressed for it.  My poor husband.  I also know that getting up at 5:30 is not any easier than getting up at 5:00.
     I exercise with a dvd for about half an hour.  When I am finished, I am, for the most part, finally awake.  I head back upstairs to take a shower.  While the water is running to warm up, I brush my hair and glance in the mirror.  Oh, baby!  It is not a pretty sight.  I'm red and sweaty from exercise.  My hair is sticking out like straw in a haystack.  There is a smudge of mascara that didn't get washed off from the night before.  I am a mess.  I climb into the shower and begin the transformation into a person that people would be willing to entrust their precious children to.
     I am reminded of this verse from James.

     Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror  and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.   ~James 1:22-25

     It is important to listen to what God's word says, but it is much more important to obey it.  To do what the Bible says.  The person who hears, but fails to act upon what he hears, is like "a man, or woman, who looks at his face in a mirror and goes away and forgets what he looks like."
     The mirror is God's infallible Word, a true mirror of the soul.  Sometimes we look into the mirror and see ourselves as the sinners we are in God's holy presence.  Then we look away and live for ourselves. If we are honest with what the mirror reveals and obey the light, then there comes a transformation of our heart and life.
     Second Corinthians says "we who reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness."
     Are you being transformed today?
     This post is Day 19, yes, this messy girl is behind,  in the 31 Day Series: Welcome to My Mess.  You can read the other posts here.