Look in the Mirror

How can you find mirror time in the midst of your busy life?

​Did you have time this morning to look in the mirror?

As a college student, I would spend (confession!) far too much time in front of the mirror. Becoming a mother cures you of excesses like that. Babies have needs that become far more of a priority than primping. When you have twins (like my youngest children), your time getting ready for the day gets squeezed down to the narrowest sliver. Occasionally, I'd happen to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, choke back a feeling of horror, but be immediately distracted by the needs of my babies, family, or home.

Unfortunately, this happens to us not just physically, but also spiritually.

As a homeschooling mom, you may find that in addition to forgetting to check yourself in the mirror, you are also forgetting to check yourself in the mirror of God's Word. When was the last time you picked up that precious book and read it? Do you have time for everyone in your life but God?
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Or maybe you've read it, but you were like me… So quickly distracted by the needs of your family that you walked away unchanged, quickly forgetting what you just saw in its pages.

James 1:22-24 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 

Reading the Word of God and failing to apply it to your life makes us hearers and not doers. We deceive ourselves when we look into the Word of God, see problems in our lives, and then walk away completely unchanged and forgetting what kind of woman we are.

In Luke 6:47-49, Jesus compares hearers and doers. Those who both hear the Word and do it are like the man who lays the foundation of his house deep in the earth on solid rock. When floods rise, that house stands solid. Those who hear the Word of God and do nothing are like a man who builds his house on shallow ground with no real foundation. When floods rise, that house is swept away.

In Luke 8:14, Jesus has another description for us, this time of the man who hears the Word, but allows it to be choked out of his heart by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this world. His heart is like thorny ground; seed scattered by the sower has no hope of growing to maturity before it is choked out by the thorns.

What is the antidote for this problem?

We must look into the mirror of God's Word, allow it to reveal to us the ways we need to change, then walk away applying that change.

We can't leave the mirror unchanged. We must be doers and not hearers only.

When we do this, James says, we will be blessed in what we do.

But what if we don't have much time?

When I had infant twin boys, I discovered that there were ways for me to get ready for my day in--literally--minutes. I couldn't walk around ungroomed. My husband and I were dorm parents for about 12 dorm men and I had a multi-family homeschool that took place in my home. I had to be company ready at all times.

So I found a hairstyle that didn't require much time, and I pared my makeup down to a quick application of lipstick and blusher. I could be ready for my day in two minutes. My college roommates would be shocked.

There will be times in your life where you don't have the ability to spend hours in the Word of God. The point, though, is not the amount of time but the presence of change. You can still walk away from your devotional time changed, even if you only read one chapter that day. Ask God to show you a way to apply Scripture to your life and then take that through your day with you, forcing your mind back to it several times throughout the day.
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You will be blessed in what you do.