That Man in the Mirror

I was seated in a restaurant booth facing a couple as we discussed their father, my friend.  At one point I looked up, past their faces, and saw the reflection of a face in this mirror which covered the pillar on the far wall.  I tried to stay focused on the conversation, but I was distracted by the sight of a man’s image in the mirror.  His face looked old and tired.  He certainly appeared to be older than me.

Except that he was me. I was looking at my face and I wondered to myself, ‘who is that man?’

I am guessing that you, like me, have a self-image in your head. The image I have of myself is, in my mind, the way I looked 10 or 15 years ago; late-40’s to early 50’s. In my mind I haven’t changed. I guess that when I look at myself while shaving my brain just puts an old picture of myself in that mirror. Which is why that man in the mirror surprised me so.

I have had different Bible ‘life verses’ as I have aged.  The one I hold onto now is Psalm 71:18: “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who come.”  The Psalm was written by a younger person anticipating aging. The Psalmist didn’t want his or her ability to declare God’s love to change, even though the image of the person in the mirror changed.

So that is my prayer for you. If you are not yet ‘old and gray', that one day you will be. And that all of us ‘old and gray’ folks will be able to serve God with the same effectiveness as when we were young.  You know, maybe it is even the opposite of aging, serving God, that is.  Maybe as that man or woman in the mirror ages the declaring power of that person gets more powerful.  You know, how we say of an older person, “I hope I can have a faith that strong someday”?

“LORD, as the faces of the people in the mirror get older, may their voices which declare your love for all grow stronger.”